The Beautiful Mistakes
by chuu-kitsune
Summary: Gaara is trying to cope with the new feelings that are beginning to surface after the big fight between him and Naruto, he might find help in an unlikely place!  I don't own Naruto or anything involving Naruto grins
1. Chapter 1

Gaara couldn't remember the last time he had actually been to this place. He looked at the many canyons that littered the earth and sighed.

This was the place that he always went to when he was bothered with something. It gave him someplace where he could be away from the frightened glances and soft murmurs as he passed. He was just tired of it.

He still couldn't get yesterday's events out of his mind.

After returning from Konoha from the batched invasion mission, finding the dead kazekage, they began the process of giving him a proper burial.

Many of the villagers were in mourning of the fourth kazekage, but not Gaara. He attended the burning, but only in the back away from everyone else.

After all he was most likely the only one that was actually glad the bastard was dead.

'Serves him right' Gaara thought to himself. He quickly shook his head and confused with what he had thought he decided to leave and go to the only place he knew he could think in peace.

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts he did not notice the small flare of chakra move towards him.

"GAARA!!!" He was snapped back into reality when he heard his eldest sibling call for him.

Normally no one would try to speak to Gaara like that , but Temari (who he now identified by the chakra) was different.

Yea she was wary of him, but at least she SPOKE to him without flinching.

He stood up, and looking down from the 60 foot drop he regarded his sister as she squinted up the cliff-face in hopes that Gaara was there. Her face seemed to brighten as she saw his head pop over the edge.

"Hey! The council is meeting to see who is to become the fifth. Are you gonna come and watch?"

She obviously meant the next in line for being the Kazekage. He could care less about that. I mean why should he even be present on that? All that man ever did in his life is make it horrible. But considering that Temari had come all the way there to ask him, he decided to satisfy her.

Giving her a nod, he focused his chakra into the soles of his feet; when he felt the tingling sensation which meant that his chakra had settled and he was now able to walk on the cliff side safely.

He walked over towards the edge and placed one foot firmly on the cliff side to test his chakra strength. This was the hardest jutsu for beginners, and sometimes even still hard for the chunin and jonin levels.

He carefully began to place one foot in front of the other, trusting that if he did fall he trusted that his sand would catch him.

As he began to walk vertically, and not having any problems, he quickened his pace down the cliff.

"I'll come, but don't expect me to stay long." Gaara replied when he reached earshot of Temari.

Her eyes widened in surprise. Gaara was actually agreeing to come along. Temari smiled a little and nodded her head.

"Okay just for a little bit. So how's your wounds?" Temari's eyes glided down Gaara to see if any wounds were still present.

The demon inside of him had rapid healing; so she knew that they were probably healed, but this was her little brother, she wanted to know if he was okay.

Gaara stopped walking and carefully looked at his sibling. His first reaction was to ignore her and keep walking. Why did she care?

Then images from the other day flashed through his mind like his sand does when it is protecting him.

He rememberd that the blonde boy that was protecting Konoha from him; what was his name…….. Naruto, that's right. He remembered Naruto fighting him with everything he had to save a village that didn't care for him.

Why?

Why did he risk so much?

Gaara figured he would never really understand.

'Who do I have to protect? Everyone hates me; so why should I care for anyone…..'

"Gaara!" he heard for the second time this night. "Are you sure you really want to come?" Temari asked, her face showing some signs of concern. "You do look tired, maybe you should just go home; it wasn't so long ago that you had that fight"

Gaara was confused by this look on his sister. "I'm fine." he said and continued to walk on.

Temari decided to leave it alone and decided to just keep an eye on him. She followed him through the street to the council structure. The sand was whipping around again, so they needed to wear a cloth over their heads.

There was a large group that was blocking the doorway, it seemed like it would be hard to get into the council room. Gaara knew though that once they saw the gourd the people would run off with fear like they always did when they saw him remotely close. And sure enough once he took off the cloth covering his face from the sand, the people began to wander away and look at him with fear in their eyes. Gaara ignored them and kept walking until he found the spot in the corner. He slinked over into the corner as the murmurs began.

He didn't have to listen to the murmurs much more. A door open and he saw Baki, his teacher, come out of the room the council members stayed in. The room immediately got quiet. Baki looked at the crowd and cleared his throat.

" The council has decided that they will take on the roll as the whole decision makers until a new Kazekage is announced." Baki told the crowd of scared individuals.

Gaara stood motionless in the dark corner. He listened carefully as the crowd erupted in shouts and breathless murmurs.

"What will we do? Now that there is no Kazekage, who will protect us?" Gaara heard the murmur of a frightened woman to his left.

Gaara scoffed silently.

Was his bastard of a father really that important?

Why couldn't they protect themselves?

He remembered his uncle telling him that many of the villagers did not become shinobi, they were the one's that kept the village alive.

After taking a better look at the worried face, he did recognize her as one of the pot makers in town.

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'Well why should I care if she lives or dies?'

Gaara heard a voice ring loud in his ears.

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"I won't let you hurt anyone, even if I have to kill you!"

Uzumaki Naruto

Again he thought about the blonde.

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'I thought caring for people made you weak' he thought.

Gaara looked around at the people in the town building, he turned and walked out and stopped in the middle of the square.

The sand storm had dissipated and the setting sun gave a warm glow to the people retreating to their homes for the night. Gaara watched children tugging on their mothers, chattering away, he watched as lovers embraced; sad they had to part, and friends waving their goodbyes, knowing they would see each other in a few hours anyways.

No one looked at Gaara that way, and he knew no one would. He placed a hand on his chest over his heart, wincing as he did it. His chest hurt. It was the same pain he felt when Yashamaru confessed everything to him.

Heart pain.

That's what he called it.

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'Why am I feeling this? After Yashamaru I should feel nothing. Then why…'

"Gaara!"

Gaara was brought out of his trance to see Temari and Kankuro standing in front of him.

"Huh?" was all Gaara could think of to say.

"Does your chest hurt?" Temari's eyes darted from his face to the hand still pressed against his heart.

"I'll be fine." he said simply, almost reflexively, as he moved his away and letting it fall to his side.

"It's getting late; let's go home." Kankuro said hefting Karasu back onto his shoulder. In his other hand he carried a small bag. "I even have dinner." he holds up the bag. Temari and Kankuro turn towards their home, ready to call it a day.

"You go. I'm not hungry." They heard Gaara say. They turned to see Gaara jump on the roof of the village meeting building and jump out of sight.

Temari sighs and looks over at her younger brother. "I'm getting worried." she said. "He hasn't eaten since we returned from Konoha."

" He's fine. He is probably eating when he gets home. We'll leave the food out, okay?" Kankuro said. He wasn't really bothered. He began walking back towards home as the last light slipped behind the canyon. Temari watched the place that Gaara was last for a few more minutes, then followed after her brother; hoping that Gaara would come home soon.


	2. Chapter 2

Rock Lee woke up in a room he didn't remember being in.

"Where am I?" He said aloud, looking around the clean, white room.

He tried to sit up, but when he tried to sit up all of his muscles screamed at him in agony, especially his left arm and leg. He craned his neck down to see what was going on.

It seemed that his arm was in a cast. He tried to move it, he could barely twitch a muscle before it began to feel like it was on fire.

" I wouldn't try and move right now Lee." a familiar voice said.

Rock Lee looked around, it was coming from the doorway. He looked over to see his sensei in the entrance to the room.

"Gai-sensei" Rock Lee began. He tried to sit up again, but pain shot through his body.

"Itai." He fell back into the bed.

Gai-sensei strode over in two steps, he looked down at his pupil with concern.

"You really shouldn't move Lee." Gai-san repeated yet again.

Rock Lee nods his head and ignores the pain as best he can. He had help with a distraction from the pain when a head popped in his field of vision and overwhelmed it as well.

"Hi Lee-kun! How are you feeling?" The newcomer said.

Lee smiled a little as he recognized the buns on the head. "Hello Ten-Ten-san! I am alright." she wasn't teasing him? That was new.

What probably scared him the most was that Neji had not entered the room, he was still in the doorway leaning against it.

"Neji-san? You won right? Shouldn't you be practicing?" Lee looked at Neji, waiting for an answer.

"Yea." Neji replied, he turned to leave, even though he knew that Lee was a failure at being a ninja, he still couldn't bear to see him like that in the hospital bed; bandaged up and broken. " I have a month to train anyways, I'll be by later" and with that he left.

Lee stared at the empty doorway.

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He must be thinking that I am useless like this. I guess that means that I will have to work extra harder to catch up when I get better.

Although it was hard for him to move his left leg and arm.

Gai looked over at Ten-Ten and motioned to her that she should leave the room. Ten-Ten seemed to understand and nodded slightly, she then walked to the door.

"Well Lee, I have to go! Take care!" She skipped out, knowing exactly what Gai-sensei was going to say to Lee. She was sad for Lee. He tried so hard, and didn't get far. She shook her head and made her way back home.

Gai looked out the hospital window, watching the city of Konoha in the morning sun.

Rock Lee could tell that his sensei was deep in thought.

"Don't worry Gai-sensei! When I get better I'll work extra harder!" Lee grinned towards Gai.

"Lee," Gai said in a soft voice, which to Lee seemed to be very out of place for his sensei.

Lee sat quietly and waited for Gai to finish what he had begun.

"Lee, I don't think that you will be able to pursuit being a shinobi anymore." Gai looked over at Rock Lee's confused face.

Lee shook his head. " Did I make you angry? I'm very sorry! It won't ever happen…" he was cut off by Gai.

"The trauma that your body went through has left your left arm and leg crushed. The medic-nin's have looked over you, but they say that you will not be able to use the appendages properly ever again." Gai was nearly in tears, he hated that he had to give this news to his best pupil, okay maybe his favorite, and he wished that he was able to turn the hands of time back so he would be able to do something to stop that from happening, but he knew that for Lee to hear it from him would be better.

Lee looked shocked, he tried to sit up further than he had gotten, which was only getting his head an inch higher, but his face contorted in pain as he tried to support his weight with his left arm. He finally gave up and looked at Gai again.

"I don't get it, shouldn't the medic-nin's be able to fix this?" He knew that he was sounding nothing like a shinobi, but he just could not believe it. Lee shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to believe it.

"Lee it's okay, we can get through this, who knows? Maybe you will be able to recover!" Gai knew that that was impossible, but he just could not stand the look on Rock Lee's face. He knew how much this meant to the kid.

Lee opened his eyes that had began to mist over.

"You mean that if I work hard enough, that I could be able to get better?" A new hope glimmered in the black eyes.

"Lee I don't mean that you could recover at all, just that you might, there have been people that have been able to defy the medic predictions, but I want you to not do any of your daily workouts! You will need time to heal! You must keep yourself youthful!" Gai brought his fist down in an open palm every time he finished a sentence to emphasize what he meant.

Lee's face broke into a grin and he nodded vigorously. "You're right Gai-sensei! I can't let this get in my way of becoming a great shinobi!"

Gai agreed heartily. He looked up at the sun to determine what the time was. The sun had been high in the sky when he got to the hospital, now it had reached the head of the second hokage on the mountain. Which meant that he had been there for a while.

"Well Lee, I must head off home, but you rest up! I will be back tomorrow!" He saluted the boy and giving a last grin, he closed the door to the room so Lee could get some privacy.

Lee was grateful that Gai-sensei had closed the door, he needed the privacy.

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'Is it true what Gai-sensei told me? Will I never be able to become a shinobi now?'

Images and voices came parading into his memory that he had thought he had long forgotten.

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"What kind of Shinobi are you?"

"You can't even do a simple clone? Anyone can do that!"

"Loser!"

Lee ground his teeth from the pain and pushed himself with his right arm, grabbing the metal pole that was sticking out of the bed and forced his body into a sitting position.

"I am NOT a loser!" Lee whispered. He opened eyes that he didn't even realize he had closed and let his gaze go around the room. He was amazed that he managed to pull himself up.

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'Maybe if I just do my workouts in secret, then I will be able to still be a shinobi even with this handicap!'

Lee decided that he would start off small and then pick up on his training.

'Sleep is the best course of action right now! I'll get a good rest then start early in the morning!'

He kept a positive outlook on it. He even began to feel light on the matter! Rock Lee began to go through what he had remembered during the fight.

He remembered the boy that he had been up against. He was a small redhead that seemed to be angry, this boy almost reminded him of that Sasuke kid he fought; so sad, and full of anger. He was able to penetrate the boy's defenses when he took off his weights and opened 5 gates, that meant the boy was powerful!

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'Gaara of the desert! Just you wait! I'll get even more powerful!! Then we can fight again!!'

Lee would not let this get his spirits down! He gently laid down again, and began to drift off to sleep yet again.


	3. Chapter 3

Gaara decided that he needed to train extra harder. He kept playing that fight in his head.

The Uchiha had gotten through his sand and had spilt Gaara's blood; something that other's in the past had wanted to do for so long, and had seemed impossible to Gaara. He had been wrong.

At that time the control that he had over the Shukaku had begun to crack. He knew that if he did not run, he would begin to lose all that he was.

So he ran. He ran and hoped that that dark-haired boy followed. He might be controlling the Shukaku, but that didn't stop the thoughts of ripping that boy to pieces. He had been denied that pleasure when he had fought that boy in that ridiculous green bodysuit, but was rewarded with the crunch of the bones he had broken……

Gaara shook his head with that thought as it brought shivers down his spine bringing him back to present matters. Gaara thought that he should work on his taijutsu more, he clasped his hands together and made a sand clone and began to find weak points in the sand barrier. He was mildly amused by the stance that the clone had taken, arms crossed with no intention of moving.

"Reminds me of someone' he thought and placing his gourd holding his only supply of sand next to a formation jutting from the ground.

He took a stance and then ran towards the clone of himself.

Gaara made sure that he used his sand to block his attacks so it would be harder for him to dissipate the sand clone. He didn't want to ask Kankuro or Temari, he was still having trouble getting use to this thing in his chest that hurt so damn much. He decided to push the hurt away and focused on the clone.

He realized that when the clone didn't move at all, that this might not be the best of ideas.

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Well I could attack it and figure out the flaws he thought to himself.

As Gaara decided that, he took a kunai out of his pouch and ran towards the clone. He knew that he would not dispel the clone since it was made from the sand fused with his chakra. He worked on throwing kunai and shuriken at the clone, targeting on the areas that would take a real person down. His clone kept waking the weapons aside so Gaara didn't get an accurate hit, so Gaara decided to work on close combat. Gaara remembered a move that the Uchiha had done in the chuunin exams.

"Lets see how did that go?' he looked down at his right leg and then looked at the clone.

He backed up until his back was to the spot he had placed his gourd twenty feet from the clone. He fingered the gourd for comfort as he tried to remember how the technique was done; the gourd never failed him, and was always his friend, even if it was an inanimate object. Gaara nods his head as he remembers what to do and propels himself forward. He goes as fast as he could until he was five feet away from the clone, still standing with arms crossed, and crouched on the ground. The momentum shifted when he raised his leg to kick the clone skyward, and he fell face first into the cushion he sand made for him, but it didn't stop him from sliding the five feet and stopping at the feet of the clone. He brushed sand out of his eyes and pushed himself into a sitting position.

'Okay that didn't work… what am I doing wrong? Maybe at the last minute I should crouch.'

Gaara repeats the process three more times. The first two were a repeat of the previous, a face in his sand, the last one though he managed to kick the clone into the air, he then jumped into the air to grab the clone… but only managed to grab the legs.

'Damn.' Gaara thought as both him and the clone tumbled to the ground. Gaara was still keeping the sand formed as he laid on the sand that moved to protect him. He sighed and relaxed against the clone that he was still half on. He began to even drift into a half-sleep, not noticing the flare of chakra that was his brother looking for him.

'Where did he go?' Kankuro thought as he walked through the maze of rock walls. There was a training spot where he knew Gaara would most likely be, but Gaara didn't really train that much around there, he usually just sat on the upraised sand. Kankuro turned a corner, and noticed the gourd propped against one of the buttes.

'Did Gaara get attacked?' Kankuro wondered. He knew that Gaara could take care of himself, but he knew that Gaara would never leave the gourd behind. He quickened his pace towards the spot that the gourd stood, and made the chakra strings for Karasu, just to be safe.

He arrived there in five steps; he began looking around for his brother, and finding a hint of red hair shining in the afternoon sun that was beating down on Kankuro.

Had he been hurt, Kankuro couldn't tell. He cautiously began to creep closer to see if there was any blood or signs of struggle. Kankuro tested his chakra strings to see if they would be absolutely ready if this was an ambush. He circled around for a better look. It looked like Gaara's sand was protecting him… or was it..

Kankuro could not believe his eyes, it almost looked like Gaara was asleep curled on the legs of a sand clone that looked like himself.

"Gaara, what are you doing?" Kankuro asked, knowing that his brother heard him.

Gaara was thrust back into the surroundings around him when he heard his brother behind him. He snapped straight up, giving Kankuro a piercing stare, the sand clone dissipated in the blink of an eye, and rushed toward Kankuro to crush him. Gaara's eyes widened when he realized what he was about to do. He threw a hand out open palmed grabbing the invisible chakra, and pulled hard. The sand stopped inches away from where Kankuro stood, or where he had stood a few minutes before.

Gaara looked up to where Kankuro now stood on the butte that his gourd was next to.

"Um…. Sorry, I didn't hear you." Gaara said softly, avoiding the look Kankuro gave him.

"It's okay, but what were you doing?" Kankuro asks as he jumped off the butte and landed next to it. He cut the chakra strings and Karasu became still in his pouch on Knkuro's back.

"I was working on my taijutsu." Gaara replied simply, he wasn't sure where Kankuro was going with this, so he began to walk to the spot where his precious gourd stood to pick it up and leave as fast as he could.

"Gaara, I don't mean to get into whatever it is that you are doing," Kankuro began, he knew that he was still a little angry about Gaara stating that he never considered them siblings, call him crazy, but even though Gaara didn't think of them that way, he still considered them siblings, "but why not just work on improving your sand techniques? Taijutsu is not your thing." Kankuro would never usually give his opinion out, especially if it was to Gaara who could care less what he thought anyways, but this time seemed different.

Gaara nodded his head. He figured that learning taijutsu would be hard on him, but he really wanted to know how. "I am improving it because if there is a time when I won't be able to use the sand, then what?"

Kankuro's eyes widened slightly. That was a very smart way of thinking. It seemed that Gaara had grown from the battle between Naruto and himself.

"Well that is plausible. I could help you, if you want?" Kankuro said the last in a rush. He shook his head and turned towards the blazing sun. "We should get back; Temari has lunch ready for us."

" O..okay." was all Gaara could say. He actually wouldn't mind having Kankuro help him out. It might actually be better than doing this by himself. " I'll be out here later, we could work on weapons?" He picked up his gourd and swung it on his back.

Kankuro nods his head. "Sure. I'll be sure to stop by." He followed in step with Gaara as he began to walk away from the training ground. Both males kept a very good distance away from each other still. Just because they were having a conversation and talking about training together, did not mean that it took away the awkward feeling that swirled around them as they walked home for their lunch.

Hi! Thank you so much for reading this!! This is my first fanfic and I can only hope that it is good! I don't mind having suggestions either!! (smile)

I hope to have chapter four up soon as well. If you haven't realized it yet it is a Gaara/Lee fic. It might kinda drag, but just hang in there! It will pick up soon! Thanks again!!


	4. Chapter 4

Rock Lee just collapsed on his bed in the hospital. He had begun his training yet again. It was hard, but he knew that no matter how impossible things got, if he believed in himself things would work out!

Rock Lee had walked around Konoha village, observing the damage that had been inflicted when Sungakure attacked in attempts to take it over…sadly he had been put to sleep from a jutsu that knocked out the entire crowd.

He had been devastated to awaken to only hear that the Sandaime had been killed. What made it worse was that he hadn't felt so useless in all of his life, he couldn't do anything to help anyone and that bothered him.

He had been training harder than normal because of the information he received last week.

Rock Lee was startled when Gai-sensei barged into the room, scaring Lee right out of his bed. Gai told him that Naruto and his mentor were out to find a woman that would become the next hokage, and from what he has heard, she is a powerful medic-nin, so she might be able to look at his wounds. Rock Lee cheered up a little, but he wasn't going to hold his breath. These limbs may never work right again, no matter who looks at it. He shook his head and pushed what he was thinking of. He pushed himself until he was on his back, and sighed loudly, he draped his good hand over his eyes.

The morning sun had just rose over the horizon, it was the only time that the medic-nin's would leave him alone. His parents would rather he stay at the hospital than go home anyways. So he had to be sure that no one saw him when he trained. Rock Lee knew that he was improving, he could move around now without too much pain, as long as he had help walking by the crutch that he was given.

He was halfway asleep, when he head a small rapping on his door.

"Huh?" he said, and removed his arm to see who was at the door. The door opened and he saw Neji in the morning light that had just begun to enter the room from the window.

"It's just me." Neji said.

Rock Lee regarded Neji in wonderment.

"Neji-san, you are here early, what brings you here?" Lee asked.

It was strange to Lee, Neji was the one that had called him worthless the first time they had met, and to Lee, he knew that Neji thought that he should stop trying to become a shinobi because he was just embarrassing himself. But somehow, after losing that fight against Naruto, he had changed. He visited Lee more than anyone else did and hadn't mentioned anything about his return to the team.

Neji, unaware of the thoughts his team member was thinking, walked in the room and sat in the chair next to the bed.

"I just came to by to see how you are doing." Neji said. He glanced at Lee's face to see if he had irritated him in coming, but when he say no sign of that he relaxed a twinge.

"Thank you for the visit, but I wouldn't want you to miss anything important on my behalf." Lee was trying to discreetly rub some cheer in his voice. He was feeling just a little irritated, but he would not let anyone know that, he didn't want anyone to feel sorry for him, and he was almost positive that Neji was one of those people, I mean why else come here all the time?

Neji had not said a word since he came in the room and sat in the chair, he just sat there with his eyes closed and his elbows propped on his knees. "Lee, I wanted to know what you will do if there is even a slight chance that you will not be able to pursuit being a shinobi? I know this seems kind of forward, but I was just curious." After Neji had finished that sentence his silver eyes opened slowly and for a moment Rock Lee felt that Neji was using his Byakugan on him to look straight into his thoughts.

Rock Lee was shocked by the intensity of the question. He blinked a few times to get his mind out of the freeze that it had went into. "What do you mean Neji? I'll be returning to the team after I heal…" he was cut off as Neji sprang up and stared him down. By this time Lee felt like a rabbit looking down the sharp teeth of a wolf, he struggled to sit up, but his muscles in his right arm fought him, and he almost lost his holding, but Neji was there to help him sit up.

"You were training again weren't you?" Neji's eyes pierced into him. Rock Lee shook his head as he tried to hold back a chuckle. " I don't see what is so funny about this."

What Neji did not see behind him was that Ten Ten was at the doorway, she must have taken the opportunity to slink in without being seen, and she was now currently making faces behind Neji's back. Neji finally got that something was strange and turned around to see his other team member Ten Ten in the middle of puffing her cheeks out and crossing her eyes. Neji sweat dropped as he watched Ten Ten " And I hardly find that to be a face to make ever. It reminds me too much of your actual face Ten Ten."

"Hey!!" Ten Ten said as she lost the hold on the puffed up face and focused her eyes on Neji. She couldn't help the smile that came to her face as she regarded Neji, she knew that he didn't really mean it anyways.

"Ten Ten-san how are you?" Rock Lee asked giving an award winning smile. He was rewarded with a cute smile and a swift bonk on the head.

"Itai." was all Lee could say as he fell back onto the pillow.

"Lee! How many times do I have to tell you? Stop worrying about me! I came here to see how YOU are doing baka!" she looked as if she was going to swing another hit on him, but luckily Neji pulled her away before that could happen.

"What are you doing here then? You can obviously see that he is fine." Neji asked her.

Ten Ten was released from Neji's hold and she dusted herself off in a bored way. " I came by because I haven't been able to stop by much since I have been training." She crossed her arms and pouted "Gai-sensei is running us into the ground with all the missions that he is giving us. Not too hard, but we can definitely feel that we are missing someone. I miss hitting you Lee!" she smiled sweetly at Lee again, and he cowered, was he hallucinating, or did it seem Ten Ten's smile had sharp teeth poking out at the corners?

"Oh yea! Lee, Gai-sensei told me that he was going to stop by later on today. Ten Ten said. She pulled out one of her scrolls and twirled it around in her hand.

Lee smiled. Gai-sensei always seemed to make him feel better, he couldn't wait for the day to progress. He decided to pass the time, he would listen to Ten Ten and Neji.

Ten Ten took the empty chair and began chatting away about anything and everything. Neji leaned against the wall next to the window and listened to Ten Ten as well.

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Gaara propped his hands on his legs. He needed to catch his breath Gaara spent the last two weeks strengthening his taijutsu. He was now able to block, and throw a kunai and shuriken at a bull's eye, and he had practice in a few other weapons as well.

Kankuro was true to his word and helped him a great deal in training. Kankuro even asked Temari to train with them. She was also training hard on her own, and even made a pact with an kamaitachi.

Today, Kankuro was running late. Temari and something important she wanted to do, so she could not be here. So Gaara worked on his taijutsu a little more, and began his chakra training. He needed to gain a large amount of chakra so he could utilize a greater amount of sand, and what better place to learn than his favorite place?

He figured out if he mixed some of his sand in with the sand he wanted to use, then it would help filter his chakra into the said sand.

He needed to take a break, he used most of his chakra up already and he only got control of half a mile of sand already, so he was doing pretty good. He was just about to head home, when he heard Kankuro coming around the corner.

"You're late." was all Gaara said.

"I know, I was getting my new puppet." He holds u a new bandage encased puppet. "His name is Kuroari." He made chakra strings and brought Kuroari out. To Gaara, the puppet looked like Karasu, but the face was out more, and had two wicked horns coming from it's head.

Gaara nodded to his brother which was the signal that he was ready to spar. Kankuro smiled and had Kuroari stretch.

"Well let's play!" Kankuro said, and they began to spar.

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Hello! Next chapter will be when Lee and Gaara see each other again!! Yatta!!! (dances around) Jeez this is hard! I have started school, so with that and work, it is hard to find time to write this! So have patience! I promise that I will totally Get them together!! I actually can't wait!! (squeals) Thanks for reading this! (hugs)


	5. Chapter 5

Hi everyone! I know these chapters are kinda confusing. They jump a lot! I'm sorry for that too! I hope that everyone is able to follow the strange time jumps. In the last chapter I ended with Gaara, so I am going to start with Gaara. Thanks again!!! Oh and FYI Kuro Ari is kurorai. It is another way to say it. Calabash is called the bottle gourd. That is what Gaara's gourd is, but his is a lot bigger than a normal one. Okay I will admit that I got a bunch of this stuff from watching episodes 123-124. Just to say this again, I do NOT own this, and I did get the fight scene from Naruto.

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Who would have thought? Gaara wondered; that he was a fast learner? He could now utilize a vast amount of sand and it had only taken a month. He had even changed it so he can harden the sand to crush an opponent, basically like his Sabaku Sōsō. He tried that particular jutsu out again, he placed his hands in the sand and forced his chakra into the sand. The rock that was out in the middle of the sand trap crumbled with the force of the pressure Gaara had put in the sand that encompassed the entire area. He nodded his head in satisfaction and wiped the sweat that was dripping from his hair. He had been out here for a while, and he used a good amount of chakra already and he was beginning to tire. He decided it would be good if he headed home and have lunch, his stomach growled at the thought of that. He began to think of a name for the sand jutsu that he just did as he walked back to the village,…. how about Sabaku Taisō? Yes, that sounded good. He especially liked the one he had done before. That was the one that brought all the sand in a wave to cover the area. That he actually had to learn hand signs for. Not the there was already enough sand everywhere, but who really cared if he called more sand up?

He found himself back in town before he knew it. The town was busy with people out doing their daily lives. He noticed that there were apples for sale near a stall, apples were a rare thing in this part of the country; he carefully made his way over to the stall and waited for the woman to notice him. The vendor finally noticed him and she froze and her eyes held a small amount of fear.

"Hello." was all Gaara said. He was not sure if he wanted to analyze the emotion that was going through him then, so he focused on the red of the apples. The vendor followed his gaze and she smiled.

"How many would you like?" she asked. Gaara noticed there was not a hint of fear in her voice. Gaara was relieved slightly and he held up three fingers. The vendor chose three and placed them on the table. He paid her, making sure that he did not touch her as he handed her the coins. She took them without flinching and smiled again.

"Have a nice day, Gaara-san" she said and turned to another customer.

Gaara blinked a few times and turned to head his home, turning back as he almost forgot the apples. When the apples were in tow, he began to wonder just what that other feeling was in his chest that seemed different, almost what he remembered as a child. But that was a coincidence…right?

Before he began to go deeper into that thought, he heard Temari calling him from the crowd.

"Gaara!" he heard Temari call, and he turned to find her in the sea of people.

He watched her as she ran towards him and stopped right in front of him. His gaze drifted down to her hand where he noticed a piece of parchment clutched in it. He wondered just what that was about that had his sister running after him.

He waited patiently as Temari caught her breath. He wanted to know if she was okay, but he wasn't sure how to voice it, and he was scared at what she would say. Temari finally caught her breath and she stood up straighter and looked Gaara directly in the eyes.

"Gaara, Baki and I need to talk to you privately." she said glancing around all the bystanders around. He understood and nodded his head in agreement. They both began to take the trek back to their home.

Gaara could still not fantom what it was that was so important that Baki wanted to talk to him about. He shrugged inwardly and decided to wait until they got home, because the way Temari was glancing over at him, it was becoming unnerving.

It was only a few more minutes thankfully that Gaara had to wait, until he finally saw their home come to view. When Temari picked up the pace, he followed along behind her. Just what is she worried about? He wondered. He shrugged and followed behind, hoping that it wasn't that serious.

Kankuro was there to meet them when they made it to the door.

"Hey, Baki is in the sitting room waiting for us." Kankuro cocked an eyebrow. "He says it's important."

Gaara and Temari nod and followed Kankuro after he shut the door open and lead them to room that Baki was waiting in.

When Baki saw Kankuro enter the room along with Temari and Gaara, he quickly moved from the chair near the back wall, to a standing position where he could pace around the room and talk to all three children. He waited while they settled in the room; Temari propped her fan on the wall next to her as she took a seat facing the hallway, while Kankuro crouched near a corner, fussing over his two puppets, but still kept a close eye on Baki, Gaara on the other hand, leaned against the side wall arms crossed staring at the now pacing Baki.

When Baki knew he had their attention he cleared his throat and began.

"The reason I have asked you here is because we have received a request for help from Konoha." he paused and watched the three for their reaction.

Temari stared in disbelief, taking her attention away from her fan. Kankuro stopped working on Karasu, but remained facing it. Gaara did not even seem to twitch. Baki closed is eyes for a brief moment and continued on.

" From what this letter states, one of their shinobi's has left the village, they have sent a team out to retrieve said shinobi. They are requesting back up."

"Who left the village?" Kankuro asked not looking away from his puppet.

"A boy by the name of Uchiha Sasuke."

All three siblings froze. Gaara's eyes narrowed slightly, Temari lost her grip on her fan and it slid from the wall, knocking Kankuro on the head as he was too shocked to move.

"Ow!" he growled, rubbing his head.

"How many shinobi were put in the team?" Temari asked ignoring the small glare that Kankuro sent her way.

"One chunin and four genin were sent out. It gets worse though," Baki paused to take in a deep breath. "It seems that he has helpers. Konoha is not sure how many, but they took down two veteran chunin. I chose this team because you three have had more contact with the Konoha genin. You can accept or deny, either one is fine." he waited for a response from the siblings.

Kankuro and Temari exchanged looks. They weren't too sure about this, last time they were in Konoha, Gaara submitted into his shukaku, what would happen now?

I mean sure they had a peace treaty with Konoha now, but some people don't care about things like that, especially after what Gaara could have done.

Besides, they didn't want the same thing to happen again.

Before Temari could refuse, Gaara, who had stayed silent throughout the briefing, beat her to it.

"I accept the mission. " was all he said. This was the chance that Gaara was waiting for. He had a debt to pay to Konoha. He knew that he had to do this. He hoped that his siblings would come, but he understood if they didn't. He kept his gaze locked on Baki; he had a problem with staring, he knew that, but if it got results then it didn't matter.

Kankuro chuckled and stood up. "Well I guess that means that we are going to help!" Kankuro said. He smiled at his sister and began to pack up Karasu and Kuro Ari. Gaara nodded and began to climb the stairs to his room. He needed to get out of these clothes and into his new clothes. He had grown a little since the chunin exams, so his other clothes had gotten too small for him to fit. He wanted to jump with glee, he was actually taller!

But he could not see himself jumping up and down squealing like the girls that he normally encounters when he walks around the village. He undressed and picked up the dark red shirt and pants. He looked down, he was still wearing his mesh, he was wondering if he should leave it or keep it on. He shrugged and left the mesh where it was and donned the new garb that he chose. The red shirt covered more than his old black shirt. Good thing that it was made of light fabric and was thin, or else he would be burning in the heat. He snapped the button in place on his neck and smoothed the fabric out, he did the same with the slacks, but those he had to tie in place. When he is satisfied he wrapped his white scarf around him to soften the weight of the sand in his calabash gourd, and placing that on his shoulder, he silently walked down and waited for his siblings. He found the apples that he had bought a little while ago in his pouch near his lower back. He forgot about those. He had to remember to give those to his sibs.

'_So' _Gaara thought. '_Why did the Uchiha leave?'_

He couldn't think of anything as to why he would want to leave. He had friends who cared for him so why?

Gaara began to feel anger, he closed his eyes and forced the anger down. It won't get the better of him this time. He could see an outline of the monster inside him coming out of the darkness of his eyes.

Was it laughing at him?

He watched as the monster threw back it's head and cackled.

"Stupid shukaku." Gaara muttered.

"We're ready." Gaara heard Temari say.

He opened his eyes and saw both his elder siblings waiting for him at the door leading out. Nodding his head, Gaara tosses an apple to Temari and then Kankuro; once the shock went away from their faces, his siblings shrugged and placing the apples in their pouches, they followed Gaara out to begin their mission.

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Lee had finally decided. He was going to go as backup for his friends.

Sakura seemed so broken since Sasuke left. He realized he didn't really care anymore. Lee thought that she was a considerate person, but she had a very unhealthy obsession.

All he knew though is that he was tired of feeling useless!

Ever since the fear of maybe having to give up being a shinobi, he began to look at things In a different perspective. He realized how much it meant to him that he had friends that cared for him. He couldn't let them down now! He also wanted to learn new things! Lee knew that when he was told that, he went into a big depression, what was worse was when the Godaime mentioned a surgery that she could perform on him that could heal his bones, but the surgery could kill him if it went wrong. He was so torn about what to do that he ignored everything and everyone else and went into a brooding state. The only thing that got him out of that state was the words that his sensei said. They touched his heart and also gave a challenge for him.

"_If you die, then I will die as well…"_

Lee smiled to himself as he remembered the promise that Gai made to him. He _would_ get better! It seemed to give him the courage that he strongly needed, and he agreed to the surgery and now look at him!

He looked down as he sailed through the air onto the safety of a large branch, catching up to Naruto.

He had asked some of the squirrels in the area. He couldn't talk to animals, but they could point him in the right direction.

Lee could already hear the sounds of fighting.

"Hang in there Naruto-kun, I'm on my way" he pushed himself to go faster.

The Godaime gave him a bottle of medecine to take to help heal him faster. He had that in his pouch and would have to take it soon, he kept a mental countdown. Lee could only hope that it would help him.

Lee finally pinpointed the fighting sounds to a clearing half a mile to his left, he pushed faster and finally made it to the break in the woods. He saw Naruto battling a silver-haired boy. It looked like Naruto was having trouble with this particular person. Lee decided to step in when the stranger dispelled all of the clones Naruto had made, what made it worse was that the barrel that had been smoking broke and Sasuke came out. Try as Naruto might, Sasuke ran away, Naruto was distracted by what had happened that he didn't even noticed that it gavve the silver-haired boy enough time to sneak up on him and was about to stab Naruto with the white sword he was wielding; Lee propelled himself in the air and landed a spinning kick on the enemy.

"Fuzzy eyebrows." Lee heard Naruto say.

"Naruto-kun, go after Sasuke-kun." Lee told Naruto.

Naruto must have understood. " Fuzzy eyebrows. Be careful. He uses his own bones to attack."

Lee was surprised, but kept his composure. "Bones you say?" yes he could see it now.

Lee had to reassure Naruto that he should be going after Sasuke, besides letting him go. When Naruto began to leave, the silver-haired man tried to harm Naruto, Lee was there in a flash; he stopped the blade before it could harm anyone.

"Please don't ignore me." Lee said to the man in front of him. He stared hard at the older boy.

"Oh?" was all that he said in return, his mouth curved into small smile. This should be fun.

Lee began to think of what he could do, he did just get out of surgery a few days ago, and he needed to take it easy he knew, but he had a duty to help as well! He got his answer when the bone wielder looked at the retreating form of Naruto. Lee knew this could not get any better!

"You do not have the luxury to look away!" Lee pushed the bone sword that he was still holding to his left, jumped up and landed a bone crushing kick to the shoulder of his enemy. He knew he had done some damage! He felt it.

Now if he could just do that a few more times. He was successful when he landed another blow to his jaw.

To Lee, it seemed that his opponent seemed to be unaffected by the wound that Lee had inflicted in his shoulder; as if he had heard Lee's thoughts, the silver-haired boy stopped any advances and snapped his shoulder back into its place. Lee held back his surprise, it seemed that the opponent didn't even make a face of discomfort.

Lee knew he had to end this fast. "The next one, will end this." Lee said, mainly to himself to make him feel stronger.

Lee began the fight again. Every kick that he dished out, was evaded by the strange boy.

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He's good. Lee thought to himself.

Lee did everything he had on this guy, he even did the Konoha Dai Senpuu. He was very good at evading,

maybe Lee's opponent will explain how he could move like that.

"Your movements are too direct." was all he said in return.

Lee ignored the remark and charged toward his opponent, he was taken by surprise when he was sidestepped andflew by the bone wielder.

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Damn! Lee knew that his back was exposed and would probably get hit.

"It's over." he heard behind him.

He had to think fast… wait he needed to take his medicine.

"Please wait!" Lee said holding up a hand to stop the attack. Surprisingly the bone-wielder actually stopped. Lee realized how close he had been to getting a taste of the sword. " I'm sorry, but it's almost time to take my medicine. I must take it. Excuse me." he went into his pouch in the back of his left hip, and pulled out a small, white bottle. He stared the bottle down, thoughts flashed through his mind wondering just how bed the medicine tastes.

"From the time I was little, I've never liked medicines." He said this aloud, trying to give him strength. He took a breath, popped the cork and prank the contents. It tasted almost like water, but he knew it was far beyond that, it had a small, almost pleasant warmth as it slid down his throat and pooled in his stomach. When the contents were empty, he made a face, he stared at the bottle in disgust.

"Medicine always has a weird taste." he said.

Lee said as his brain began to feel fuzzy. His body started to weave uncontroably. He could not comprehend why he was having this problem, he wasn't normally like this when he had medicine, what kind of medicine was this? He began to hiccup.

Then for some reason the man in front of him seemed to piss him off. All he was doing was standing there, staring at Lee.

"What the hell do you want, damn it!" he began to weave out of control again. He finally gain a small amount of control and took his stance, his arms were in front of him, his fingers curled in towards him in an open fist.

Lee waited for the man to attack, but all he did was stand there staring at the weaving that Lee was still unable to control. Lee kneeled down for a second, then jumped up and ran towards his opponent.

That glare was pissing him off too much! His vision was going in and out of focus, but he was still able to connect some hits. His opponent was blocking his attacks.

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He wasn't half bad Lee thought to himself.

He kept feeling even more strange every time that he moved around. He thought maybe he could try something, but he was getting tired… after babbling on about something he passed out on the ground.

He could feel the enemy coming closer, he was just about to fall asleep too, he jumped up and grinned like a moron.

"You fell for it!" he yelled, it was slurred but still understandable. Lee finally had him! He started throwing punches that actually met this time, and even sent the bone-wielder flying. He was so happy that he could fight again that words could not express it.

"Gai-sensei! I've done it!" he yelled happily. He couldn't remember what he was going to say, he only remembered 'I', he repeated it, but then got tired again, so he fell back on the ground and fell asleep. But of course he was faking it! So it was just a repeat of it again. Lee was having so much fun, but his opponent was just pissing him off even more! He was underestimating him and Lee did not like that. He decided to tell this guy a piece of his mind!

…….wait….

"Why am I here?" Lee thought to himself, not realizing that he had said it aloud. He sat down on the ground and tried to think of a reason as to why he was here…..in which he fell asleep.

He was having such a nice sleep, but then he could feel the presence of that guy coming towards him yet again. It was almost like the weird-looking guy was going in slow motion. Lee could feel where the bone sword was going to hit, and his body moved while he slept, but the movements were making him wake up, and that annoyed him.

He stopped the sword with his legs, then the bone-wielder began to slice at him with a great amount of speed, to Lee, all he could hear was the wind as the sword passed by him, missing him by inches.

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This guy is like an annoying bug!

He began his retaliation on the guy.

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I'll beat this guy! Lee thought as he connected some hits on his opponents chest.

He thought he was doing well! Even if he had no idea why he was fighting this guy again. He spun towards him and actually was able to have him lose hold on his bone sword.

Lee thought he was doing good! Then they stopped.

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Why the hell is he stopping? I thought we were fighting here!

Lee watched as the silver-haired boy as he removed the last bit of garment he had on his chest. Lee watched as a strange red mark spread over his chest.

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What is that?

Lee then watched as four white bones popped out of the arm of the boy

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Whoa! This should be fun!

Before Lee knew it he was on the ground bleeding from a cheek wound. He thought for a moment wait he was thinking? Come to think of it, his head was killing him, he placed a hand on his head and looked at his opponent. There were bones that looked like ribs sticking out of his skin.

Lee's left cheek hurt really badly, he placed his palm on it and it came away red. Okay a headache and a wound, I must have been drunk again. Lee heard his foe talking, which he now knew that the bones sticking out were a bloodline limit that he had.

Strange was all that could go into Lee's mind.

"Bones or not they are still bones!" he ran towards the bone maker, "I'll break them and then it will be over!"

He hit the bone with all his might, but it didn't break, this guy wasn't kidding when he said it was very hard.

Lee decided that he would trick the bone wielder, so he "disappeared" and 'reappeared" behind him. He was about to attack, when he felt a piercing in his hand and then he was spun around, he felt pain lace in every part of his body as he made contact with the sharp bones. All Lee remembered after that is flying through the air and falling to the ground before he passed out for a little bit.

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Gaara was almost there, he heard the sounds of fighting, not much signs of chakra release, and that bothered him somewhat. He had split up with his siblings, all went their separate ways because they had locked onto one of their allies. Gaara just happened to lock onto Naruto, or so he had thought, but Naruto usually had more of a chakra signature.

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I guess I should just go ahead and find out who this is. Gaara thought and got to the clearing just as he saw a silver-haired man run towards a boy on the ground in a familiar looking green suit. He had to act fast.

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Lee woke up, he had been wounded pretty good. He now realized that this was a tough battle, not only were the cuts pretty deep, but his left leg and arm were hurting pretty bad as well. He ignored that and decided the last thing he could do.

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Forgive me Gai-sensei

He could open only one gate which would make him faster. Lee was sure that the bones could not stop his powerful kick!

Lee convinced the bone-wielder to stay, and then stood up.

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Okay here I go!

Lee unraveled one of his bandages on his arm and opened his gate, he was surprised and dismayed that when he kicked it was stopped by the rib bones that protected their creator.

"This is the end" Lee heard him say

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Shit! was all Lee could think of.

As he watched a sharp bone grow out of the palm of his foe come towards his face in almost slow motion, he almost missed the sand from the corner of his eye snake over and wrap around the bone that was sent to kill Lee, and stop it in its tracks.

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What? Lee thought then he was soaring through the air yet again, but this time he felt a strange sensation as something crawled up his body, encompassing it, and cushioned his fall to the ground.

Sand? Lee looked around and looked right up to see the person that he had fought in the preliminary exams.

Sabaku no Gaara… Lee thought. What is he doing here? And am I in trouble?


	6. Chapter 6

Hello again! This one was equally hard to do to tell you the truth. Well anyways! I hope that you guys liked this as well! Just so you guys know again, I did NOT make this up. This fight scene is in episodes 125-128! And yes they are saying the same stuff from the anime as well. So this is a spoiler as well! Hope you enjoy!

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Gaara stared at the person he would be fighting.

_He seems to be strong_. Gaara thought.

Gaara would do anything in his power to stop this guy though.

This guy called out his name and threw bone bullets at him. Gaara just stood there and let his sand do the work. It did spiral in the sand pretty good, but it was no match for his sand.

"You're so hasty." Gaara said.

Gaara looked over at the boy on his sand.

_He could have done better…_ Gaara thought.

Gaara remembered this guy, he was the one that had fought in the preliminary chunin exams that he had crushed. He was able to still fight? Gaara was surprised.

Gaara thought about it. He turned to Lee.

"When we fought, you had more speed and spirit in your attacks." Gaara said, he was slightly irritated that it seemed Lee wasn't trying.

Rock Lee stood up. Gaara was told that he was the cause for Lee's hard times, but that he had no grudge towards Gaara.

Gaara wasn't sure if he should be relieved or bothered. That's okay though, he seemed to be fine now….if you would call bleeding from many places fine.

"I see." was all Gaara said, he called his sand back into his gourd.

"Why are you here?" Lee asked. He knew that they had been enemies before, so why was Gaara of the desert here?

Gaara turned around and stared right at Lee.

"I own Konoha a big debt." Gaara said.

Lee stood up and took his stance. Gaara looked at Lee, he was still going to fight even though he was bleed badly. Gaara couldn't help but remember when he had incapacitated that boy, he remembered that Lee had even gotten up when he had passed out. Gaara looked back at the opponent.

"I'll fight him." was all he said.

"No. I will have you as backup." Lee said as he began to run forward.

Gaara nudged his sand and it went after the boy in the green jumper. The sand wrapped around one of Lee's legs, and Lee went down fast, he fell right into the safety of Gaara's sand, waiting for him.

"The sand's in my mouth…"Lee said. "Please let go!" He winced as he finally felt the pain jolt through his leg. He knew that the newcomer would not let him fight now. Rock Lee decided that he should sit this one out, but if it seemed like Gaara-san needed help he would jump in immediately!

"You can't do anything in your current condition." Gaara said. He walked forward and his sand began to spill out from the gourd almost like it felt the beginning of the fight. "I'll fight him." Gaara repeated. This time Lee could tell the tone Gaara gave meant that he wasn't going to allow an argument. Lee decided that this would be a good time to inform Gaara of the fight he was planning to have.

"Please be careful! His attacks consist of bones." Lee explained. "Like before, he can shoot bones out and is also able to grow bones out of his body, he is able to freely control his bones." Lee said to Gaara's retreating back.

Gaara waited for any sign that the enemy would attack. Just what he thought, Gaara saw the enemy move his arms up, keeping the fingers extended. Gaara braced himself for the finger bullets. He knew that his sand would protect him anyways. When they came he was ready. Gaara had some sand stay behind and stop the bullets that were coming as the rest of his sand attacked.

The bone-wielder was very good at evading his sand. When he stopped, Gaara waited for another attack.

"Gaara of the desert, what a foolish nickname, you can't do anything without sand!" the bone-wielder said.

Gaara ignored him, he thought he had seen this particular person around before. Name? Could he remember the name?

Yes! Kimimaro! That was the name of this person! Well he was underestimating Gaara it seemed.

Gaara threw his sand back towards Kimimaro. This guy just kept dodging.

_Okay, time to step it up._

Gaara shot his sand into the ground. Does he really think that I only have this amount of sand? Gaara wondered. Oh well too late now.

"Suna Shigure." Gaara said.

Kimimaro tried to move, but the sand that he thrust in the ground came up and wrapped around his ankles.

Gaara brought up his hand in the usual pose, with the palm upside down and his fingers curved to make a fist.

" As long as I have sand, I can do anything." Gaara said. "You are the fool, I have no difficulty in producing sand in the ground." Gaara watched as the sand began to rain down and cover Kimimaro.

Gaara molded the sand to keep Kimimaro submerged in the sand. Then Gaara closed his hand into the fist he hadn't make yet.

_Sabaku sousou _Gaara thought and the sand pressurized.

Gaara brought his arm down and waited. He told Lee that Kimimaro had the same eyes as Sasuke. Which was true. He knew those eyes.

" want to confirm the value of my existence." Gaara said to Lee. Those eyes meant early deaths….

Gaara waited, he knew there was something wrong. That last attack should have been able to kill Kimimaro, but it didn't feel like it.

Just what Gaara had thought, a hand came out of the hardened sand, covered in black lines that Gaara had never seen before.

_Damn. _thought Gaara

He heard Lee gasp behind him, and Kimimaro was out of the sand. Gaara noticed bone showing from the skin missing from Kimimaro.

"Impressive pressure, if I didn't create a film of bone right under the skin, I would have been squashed immediately" Kimimaro said.

"Bones, he's also a monster." Gaara said. I know how to get rid of him.

Gaara vaguely listened to Kimimaro as he spoke about something, but Gaara did hear Kimimaro state that he would not be captured by his sand again.

_That's what he thinks _Gaara thought.

He spaced his legs to get better support, and made his hand symbols and a wave of sand came forward, his hair was being pushed back from the wind that was being made. He clasped his hands together and brought them under his chin.

_Ryuusa Bakuryuu! _Gaara thought.

The sand turned into a wave and soared towards Kimimaro. It had to be at least 20 feet high and the width was still stretching out.

Kimimaro dodged as best as he could, but he was caught by the sand and was carried by the sand towards the forest, where it changed the entire landscape into a desert. Filling the trees to the canopy with sand.

"You did it." Gaara heard Lee say. Lee was amazed at what he had just witnessed.

"Not yet." Gaara replied, he removed his hands from under his chin and kneeled on the ground. This was what he had learned months ago, and it seemed to be something that needed to be done. He thrust his hands in the sand.

"Sabaku Taisou" Gaara said. He pushed his chakra into the sand and forced it to harden all at once. This guy would die!

Lee felt the ground shake as the sand began to harden. This was so amazing. Lee was positive that he had gained a new respect for this boy. He was a very amazing individual, it is a good thing that he is on our side.

Even when Gaara had done that, it still seemed that that guy was still hanging on.

"He's persistent." Gaara said, to Lee, but to also himself.

A powerful chakra raised from the sand. Gaara waited, he saw a clawed hand rest on a broken tree trunk.

_This is bad _Gaara thought.

Gaara broght his arms up clenching his fingers into claws, it was the only way that he could get the sand to harden for him. The sand began to swirl around the strange looking boy that use to be Kimimaro, but now had six large bones protruding out of his back, and a tail. Almost like a dinosaur. Kimimaro started to work his way out, so Gaara fisted his hands.

Sabaku Kyuu! Gaara said.

That bastard ripped through the pressurized sand and ran towards Gaara. He was coming fast too, Gaara had to think of something, he began to use his sabaku kyuu over and over but this guy was even better at dodging. He kept coming closer and closer.

10 feet

8 feet

6 feet

Gaara abandoned his attempt to crush him and slapped a hand in the sand making some come up to protect him and Lee. Gaara realized that it wasn't working too late. Kimimaro busted through the sand barrier and barreled towards Gaara. He tilted down and speared Gaara with the bones sticking out of his back.

Gaara went flying in the air. It hurt, but not as bad as it should have. His sand took the brunt of the force.

Gaara vaguely heard when Kimimaro spoke.

"IS the absolute defense I've heard so much about be that weak? What a let down."

Gaara turned around after he pushed himself up. Kimimaro now noticed the sand breaking on Gaara's face.

_Yes I am wearing the sand._ Gaara thought. He then saw Lee jump up behind Kimimaro ready to attack.

What is he doing?? Gaara wondered.

Lee tried to kick Kimimaro, but he must not have seen the tail coming, but Gaara did. He raised up sand in between the tail and Lee before it could do a direct hit. Gaara got lucky. He got the sand there in time, the tail broke through the sand barrier of course, but it took most of the damage before it hit Lee and made him go flying like Gaara had. Gaara stood up and faced off Kimimaro.

"This sand is a pain in the ass." Kimimaro said looking around at the sand that was everywhere. " I'll kill you first, Gaara." Gaara just stood there staring, waiting for the attack this guy was going to dish out.

Kimimaro raised an arm to his back. Gaara could hear cracking noises, he waited as he got to see just what it was Kimimaro was holding. He pulled a bone out that looked like it came from his spine, and sure enough Gaara could see a hole where the spine started. This was Kimimaro's spine.

"Tessenka no mai!" Kimimaro said and the spine whip snaked forward, Gaara's sand kept it from touching him, but now he was stuck.

Gaara watched as Kimimaro yelled Hana and three large bones twisted around his arm, consuming it.

"This bone has been strengthened to the maximum, I will pierce through your sand defense along with you!" Kimimaro yelled.

Gaara saw the one thing that might save him, whatever it was, he knew that Kimimaro just coughed up blood. Gaara had just the thing that would help him through this. He concentrated his chakra and made it form a giant raccoon imitating the Shukaku trapped inside him. He had placed a hat on the shukaku and it had its arms stretched out in a protecting manner.

"Saikou zettai bougyo, Shukaku no tate." Gaara said, and the shukaku sand defense was complete.

Kimimaro thrust the bone spear into the belly of the shukaku made of sand. Gaara concentrated to make it as strong as he could, he could feel the power of the bone spear attempting to break through the sand shield.

Lee was not worried in the least about Gaara. He knew from experience that Gaara's sand was definitely the absolute defense. He watched as Gaara kept his concentration completely on Kimimaro. Rock Lee knew that Gaara was putting everything in that attack.

Two minutes passed and Gaara was still holding off the bone spear. Lee noticed that Gaara's expression gave away his strain.

_I hope he won't lose too much chakra._ Lee thought.

Just when things were getting crucial, Lee heard a cracking, he looked at the bone spear, and it had a large crack in it. It cracked louder and louder, then it crumbled from Kimimaro's shoulder to the tip. There was barely a dent in the sand shukaku. Gaara had done it!

"That's hard." Kimimaro said. Angry about what had just happened, but he was also impressed that a child like this held a great amount of power.

"I collected

The minerals with the highest tensile strength from the ground, added pressure with my chakra and mixed them with the sand." Gaara paused. " Your unique technique, is a bloodline limit, isn't it?"

Gaara was informed that this was from the Kaguya clan. That he is the only living member now.

That was an interesting thing, but Gaara knew this would be over soon.

"Right here today, that clan will become extinct." and Gaara was being serious.

"That could be. Due to my illness, my body won't hold out much longer." Kimimaro responded.

_So that was blood that I saw him cough up. _

"Besides I'm not alone." Kimimaro said.

What did this guy mean with that? Gaara wondered. "You're not alone?" he asked.

" I will remain alive as an existence that is part of Orochimaru-sama's ambition." Kimimaro said.

Both boys stared down each other. "I will remain in Orochimaru-sama's heart forever."

Gaara wanted to scoff, he knew not everyone cared for you like they pretended to. People always wanted something from you, and then throw you away. Besides he remembered that snake trying to talk to him; understand him.

Like he could.

"Orochimaru's brainwashing?" Gaara brings up his hands in a dispel stance. "How empty you are." he releases his sand shukaku, but keeps the sand on the bone whip to hold Kimimaro in place. Gaara took the advantage when Kimimaro stood there shocked by the words that Gaara had said. He had loosened his hold on Gaara, and that gave Gaara the chance to break the hold of the bone whip around him. Gaara pushed more chakra into the sand Kimimaro stood on. The bone-wielder began to sink into the ground.

Kimimaro began to hit the ground at the sand when ke regained control of his whip. It did not seem to be working. In fact it seemed he was sinking faster.

"You will sink 200 meters underground and be held there, with the pressure of the sand glued to your body, you won't even be able to lift a finger." Gaara said. He watched as Kimimaro's head sank under the surface to never be seen again. Gaara listened.

"You did it!" Lee cheered behind Gaara, but Lee did remember what happened last time he said that. "This time it's over, right?" Lee asked.

Gaara remained silent and kept his eyes glued to the spot where Kimimaro sank down. Gaara knew something was still not right.

"Sawarabi…"

Gaara heard the voice, his eyes widened, how could he still be alive?

"Sawarabi no mai!"

The ground began to shake, Gaara and Lee watched in horror as bones began to thrust up from the ground at a fast pace. One line was making its way towards Lee, Gaara had to think fast before both got speared from the bones. He concentrated on the sand that was under Lee and pushed it up, he did the same with his own. Soon both were floating out of danger.

Gaara glanced over at Lee to make sure he was okay. Lee was staring at the bone forest, then at Gaara.

Why is he staring at me like I did something wrong? Gaara wondered. He found out that he was wrong.

"You saved me." Lee said. He gave Gaara a look of awe. It made Gaara feel strange. "You truly are amazing to be able to do this."

Gaara knew he wasn't amazing, so why did Rock Lee believe differently?

"You just got on the sand I always use." Gaara said, he needed to show Lee that he was not amazing. "It's very easy for me."

Lee fell silent. He still thought Gaara was amazing, even if he himself did not. Lee only used taijutsu so any type of ninjutsu he observed was amazing.

"He was a persistent bastard, but it's over now." Gaara said changing the subject. "He won't appear before us again." Gaara felt his legs wobble.

"Yes." Lee agreed. Lee watched as Gaara went on one knee. Gaara kept himself from falling by one hand propping his weight.

"I'm at my limit." Lee heard Gaara say. He sounded tired. "Let's get off."

He began to muster up his last bit of chakra to move the sand, he didn't need to use that much to move them, but before he could begin to move them, he felt a disturbance too late for a reaction.

"It's not brainwashing!" Gaara heard an angry voice say behind him. He turned to see Kimimaro he must have moved through his bones to where Gaara was hovering .

'This is bad.' Gaara thought. 'I can't even move!'

Kimimaro pulled back his arm that had the bone enclosing his hand, that had the spear on it. Gaara and Lee were frozen in place.

"Orochimaru-sama is the only one that understands me!" Kimimaro said, he thrust the bone spear at Gaara's horror stricken face.

It stopped two inches away from his face. Blood fell from the mouth of Kimimaro and he stopped all movement.

Gaara could have sworn that this was the end. He could see his life flash before his eyes, it was strange, doesn't everyone say that? Gaara watched Kimimaro; wondering if he was toying with him or not. Kimimaro didn't move from the stance he attained. Gaara still waited, the only movement was the wind that blew Kimimaro's hair.

"He's dead." Lee said, finally breaking the ice. Gaara looked at the eyes of Kimimaro, they were still determined looking, but there was no light in them, which meant that he most definitely had died. It was eerie to look at the eyes of the dead person that was suppose to kill you.

'I should not be walking away from this.' Gaara thought. He shifted his eyes to the spear point. It was only a breath away. It was very close. That could have been inside him! Gaara was only slightly shaken…..

Yea right! Slightly was an understatement. He had almost died!

Gaara pushed any thoughts that he had about that, he needed to get off the sand before he dropped both to their deaths. He concentrated on moving the sand towards the forest edge, that was the only place that was safe so far. He felt the last little bit of his chakra dwindle down to nothing.

Luckily he was able to get them to the edge fast. Both boys got off and instantly fell to the ground. Gaara propped himself up on a tree as he took off his gourd.

" I completely lost." Gaara said to Lee. He felt disappointed that he wasn't able to defeat the enemy. It is a shame that someone that good had to die…even if he was an empty puppet for Orochimaru.

"That's not true." Lee said, cutting into Gaara's thoughts. " My sensei taught me, that luck is part of your skill."

"That meddling fool?" Gaara asked. How could Lee find him wise?

Lee sat up fast. "He is not a meddling fool! At that time, it was because I was too cowardly." Lee paused. "I am grateful for your help, but do not speak about my sensei that way!"

Hmm so Lee does get angry. "You too huh?" Gaara sat there for a second then continued on. "When you feel that the name of the one you admire is disgraced, you are terribly hurt as well and become enraged. The more precious the person you worship is to you; fighting for those important to you, he was the same as Uzumaki Naruto. Just because someone is important to you doesn't necessarily mean that person is good ."

To Lee that made sense. "Do you think so? I don't think anyone would consider a bad person important."

"No, even if you knew that person was evil, people cannot win against their loneliness."

Lee understood that, he knew that Gaara must know that too, he sounded like he knew what he was talking about. Lee looked up to where the fallen shinobi was held. Gaara made so much sense that it was just eerie. Hopefully everyone was okay, he was eager to know.


	7. Chapter 7

I do not own Naruto in any way, shape, or form….. Sadly. This is after the fight with Kimimaro! If you couldn't tell. (chuckles) Hope you guys like!

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Gaara was absolutely tired, he never remembered using that much chakra before, not even in his training. What bothered him was that he almost died. He was losing his touch.

'That guy was strong.' his heart was still beating fast from that near death experience.

But what annoyed him the most was how Kimimaro spoke of his mentor, so highly like he was a benevolent creature, even though Gaara new that was not the case. Even now the boy in the green….

Did he even remember his name?

Gaara looked down to where his hand was resting by a tree. There was a rock hugging a root of the tree, almost covered by the sand.

'_Right a rock….Rock….Lee? Yes. Rock Lee.'_

Rock Lee defended his own mentor as well. Gaara just didn't understand what was so important about these people, what impact did they have on them?

Gaara could not fantom it at all. It seemed that Lee would not be able to help him out either.

Lee gave Gaara a look of affection .

"You've never had someone like that? Not even a friend?" Lee asked

Gaara sat under the tree in silence He was mildly embarrassed and not sure how to feel. From Lee's tone, Gaara could tell he wasn't being made fun of, was it really just an inquiry?

At the silence Gaara gave, Lee assumed it was true. He shook his head, some people are just too rude for their own good. He understood that only too well.

"Well I'll be your friend!" Lee said. He gave Gaara a thumbs up.

Gaara whipped his head to gaze at Lee. The grinning idiot actually wanted to befriend him after what he had done?

_Masaka, watashi wa bakemomo…._

But maybe this was a good thing.

'Am I happy?' he thought as he moved his hand towards his chest. He felt a tug somewhere, could it be the shukaku? No this was different….

Gaara only nodded his head, what else could he do?

"Great!" Lee looked around. " So are we waiting for someone in particular?'

Gaara shook his head. "My team agreed that we would meet up in Konoha."

"Alright then, are you ready to go?" Lee pushed himself off the sand and pulled himself up the tree he was leaning on and winced. His leg was throbbing. He hoped that Gaara hadn't seen that.

But unfortunately to Lee, Gaara, being a very observant individual; he did notice that wince Lee gave. Gaara felt uneasy. He knew that it was a miracle that the older boy was walking around, and he wasn't sure if he should help him or not. It seemed that he was not sure about anything anymore. Gaara noticed his sand still resting behind Lee; he gave it a nudge in the right direction, and it followed.

The sand slowly crawled up Lee as he froze from the sudden contact. Gaara knew Lee was now staring at him, he didn't want to return the look, so he concentrated on making his sand go slower, showing no sign of threat.

Lee stared at the redhead in amazement and some fear. He felt Gaara's sand crawl up his leg; he was beginning to have flashbacks, but then the sand's trek changed, it slowed, sending shivers throughout Lee's body which he refused to analyze closely. The sand rested in the middle of his back, keeping him from placing too much weight on his leg.

"Thank you." Lee said to Gaara. "But shouldn't you be resting?" Lee brought his right arm back to brush at the sand. It tickled him slightly.

"I am resting." Gaara said, and just what was he doing? Whatever it was, Gaara wasn't sure if he hated it too much.

They sat in silence for a while longer.

Gaara couldn't help but have his eyes wander back up to the still figure now forever perched on the bone forest he had made.

'_He fought so hard for the one that was special to him. Is that how it is? _Gaara thought. He remembered that Lee was his friend now.

'_Should I do the same for him?'_ he thought. He shook his head.

Gaara's eyes moved from the dead shinobi, to the boy next to him that was gingerly patting the cut on his left cheek.

'_What if he is the same?'_ Gaara thought f the many people in his village afraid of him.

Gaara began to grow irritated again. He was just too confused.

The sand at Lee's back began to harden and expand.

Lee looked at Gaara's face and saw the crease in his brow. Maybe it was time to go.

"Gaara-san." Lee began. When he got no reaction he limped over to where Gaara was sitting and kneeled down.

"Gaara-san?" Lee repeated, this time placing a hand on Gaara's shoulder.

Gaara shook his head and looked up at Lee.

"Are you ready to go?" Lee said, he smiled down at Gaara's face.

"Yes, I'm ready." Gaara said. He knew that he was rested enough to get up and walk.

Lee beat him to it and before Gaara could push himself up, Lee held a hand out for Gaara to take. Gaara thought for a moment, he could help himself up. Gaara tried to get up, but when he fell back, he decided to let Lee help him. Gaara took Lee's hand and Lee gently pulled him up.

Gaara instantly froze. Someone was touching him, and it was Lee. He wasn't afraid? Gaara had forgotten just how it was to be touched with no intent of harm.

_Did touch always make me feel strange?_ Gaara wondered.

Gaara allowed Lee to help him up part-way; when Gaara had a grip on gravity he moved out of Lee's hold.

Both boys took one more look at the bone forest, almost stopping a moment to give respect to a fine shinobi, even though he was an enemy; then turned towards the forest entrance and began towards where Konoha lie.

They walked on the forest floor in silence. Lee kept scanning the area behind them while Gaara scanned in front. They were more venerable on the ground, so that was why they scanned the area constantly. If Lee wasn't injured and Gaara had his chakra restored then they could have traveled through the canopy, but they couldn't so they were left with the only option.

"Gaara-san, are you okay with pressing on?" Lee asked. It looked to Lee that Gaara had turned a shade lighter.

Gaara stopped his trek and turned his cat-green eyes at Lee.

Lee shifted his weight and winced. Gaara still stared.

Did I upset him? Lee averted his eyes and bowed.

"I'm sorry I upset you!" Lee almost yelled. "I always ask strange questions." he straightened to lock his eyes with Gaara, and gave a grin. "Gai-sensei says that asking questions means your brain is still youthful!" Lee said proudly and thrust his fist in the air. All he heard was silence. Lee looked to where Gaara was, only to find that spot empty. Rock Lee looked ahead to see Gaara was there, walking ahead.

Lee fell over and twitched.

Gaara heard a thump, he turned to see Lee on the forest floor twitching. What is wrong with him? He was about to walk back over and check when Lee ceased the twitching and began to laugh. Gaara raised and eyebrow. (he has eyebrows…..they are just so fair you can't see them….. shifty eye)

Lee jumps up, ignoring his pain, he could bairley feel it anyways.

"You're right Gaara-san! Let's keep going!" Lee walked hurriedly by Gaara, ready to continue their trek.

Gaara felt a bubble in his stomach, and the corner of his mouth twitched once.

Did I? Gaara touched the twitched corner of his mouth. That was strange, yet comforting. He moved his hand away to look at it.

_Could I be changing? _Gaara thought. He almost began another thought, when a spot of water fell in his palm. Gaara looked into the canopy and frowned when what seemed to be a waterfall fell towards him.

Rain?

Gaara knew that his sand would get heavy and he would have problems traveling when it was wet, especially since he was wearing sand armor.

While Lee had already gone ahead, he had found a cave. He cautiously went closer to the entrance, He wasn't sure if there was an inhabitant already there, and he didn't want to disturb anything that could attack him. He peeked in the cave, there was nothing in the cave but spider webs, that is something that Lee was able to fix, all he needed was to find some grass from the field and smoke them out. Lee turned around to see if Gaara had followed, he did not so Lee walked back to where he must have left Gaara, and sure enough, he found Gaara in the same place he had left Gaara.

Gaara was staring at his hand. Lee wondered what was wrong. He opened his mouth to ask, but stopped when a fat raindrop fell on his right cheek.

It is probably going to rain soon…….

Before Lee could finish, it began to rain so hard that he was soaked within seconds.

Lee watched as Gaara looked from his had to the canopy; as the trees failed to protect them from the rain.

Lee thought for a moment. Gaara looked like he had gotten darker. Gaara walked toward Lee when he looked back down and their eyes had met. Lee noticed that Gaara was walking slower tgab normal.

It must be Gaara's sand! Lee remembered now that Gaara was actually wearing his sand.

And sand is heavy when wet!

Lee rushed over to where poor Gaara struggled to walk.

"Gaara-san! May I please assist you? I have found adequate shelter for the rain." Lee waited for any sign of a yes. His now outstretched arms hovered over Gaara's body.

Gaara took a moment to think.

Why is he being so nice to me?

I don't get it.

Gaara knew he could make it on his own, but he also knew it was getting harder and harder to move the longer he was exposed to the accursed element.

Gaara didn't need anyone's help, but he could feel his own strenght giving out.

Gaara kept moving toward Lee so he could lead the way to the cave, but Lee met Gaara halfway and stood next to him. Gaara became confused.

'What is he…..' before he could finish his thought, Lee placed a hand on Gaara's shoulder which made him stiffen up instantly, Lee seemed not to notice.

"Gaara-san, here," Lee held out a hand " Your sand must be heavy, please let me help you." He pushed his hair out of his eyes as the rain beat down hard. Gaara noticed Rock Lee looked slightly different with his hair wet. Gaara wanted to push Lee's hand away; it was making him feel strange.

Why?

Lee, unaware of Gaara's internal struggle, slid his left arm gently in between the large gourd and Gaara's back to rest on his hip bone.

"You are still strained right?" Lee asked, he took Gaara's right arm in his and brought it over his head to rest across his shoulder.

"I'm fi…." Gaara began, but Lee didn't wait for an answer, and Gaara had to use his remaining strength into walking than resisting.

"It's not too far Gaara-san." Lee assured. By the way Gaara had tensed up, he was not enjoying this. Lee was concerned for Gaara, he knew that Gaara was completely capable of taking care of himself, but he had mixed feelings about Gaara. Lee was grateful to have fought Gaara in the exams, and now he was feeling the same way towards him like he did with Ten Ten, and even Neji. He was protective over them, even if he knew that they could protect themselves. It was strange that he had these feelings.

They turned the corner slowly and the cave came into view through the wall of water. Gaara was relieved. He could get his sand dry in a few hours and then they could be on their way.

It seemed like an eternity crossing the ten feet to get the entrance and when they were not in the open more, both boys could relax a fraction.

Lee found a soft part of the cave to place Gaara. He kneeled down and slowly set Gaara on the ground.

"Gaara-san, I am going to go find some dry sticks to make a fire. Will you be okay?" Lee asked, he watched as Gaara pulled the strap that rested across his chest over his head.

"I can still fight, even though it may not look like I can." Gaara looked over toward Lee.

Lee smiled. "Alright" he stood up gingerly. He couldn't stand up to his full height or he would hit his head, and left the cave in search of wood.

Gaara moved his gourd next to him. His poor sand was wet and heavy. Gaara sighed, he knew this would happen eventually, but why now?

Brooding about it would change nothing; so Gaara looked around the cave again.

The entrance was to his right about one yard away, luckily if a foe looked in they would only see a boulder. Gaara turned to his left to look into the bowels of the cave.

How far did it go down? Gaara wondered. Probably not too far.

He looked toward the ceiling, the top was low enough that Lee had to duck his head a little. It would be difficult for an attacker to surprise them if they were over five feet tall.

"Smart." Gaara muttered. Both boys would be safe as best as it could since they were kids.

The rain, Gaara noticed, had changed from the roaring waterfall, into a gentile mist.

Lee hadn't returned yet.

'Where is he?' Gaara thought. He wasn't sure how long it had been exactly but he was a little impatient at this moment. He also didn't want to go looking in the rain for Lee. That moron _was_ bleeding, and he was sent to bring Lee back in one piece. Gaara grumbled and pushed himself up from the cave wall, getting ready to go outside in search for Lee, when he heard a noise from the entrance of the cave. Gaara's head snaped up to see Lee ducking into the entrance carrying an armload of sticks.

Lee looked over at Gaara and grinned.

"I tried to find the driest sticks. I couldn't find a lot." Lee kneeled on his good leg and began placing the sticks in the middle of the cave.

Gaara gave Lee's body a quick scan.

So Lee was favoring his right leg, and it seemed the strong cloth around his wrists and his hands, had turned from white to a pink-red.

Gaara shook is head. " Oi." he said to Lee's back.

Lee stopped for a moment, he turned to Gaara still braced on the cave wall. "Yes Gaara-san?"

Gaara motioned for Lee to come over to where he was sitting.

Lee placed the last of the sticks down and gingerly made his way toward Gaara. He didn't want to smack his head on the ceiling, so he had to tilt his head slightly. "Do you need something?" Lee asked once he got over to Gaara.

Gaara snaked out an arm and clasped his hand on Lee's wrist, and before Rock Lee could register what happened so he could pull away, Gaara pulled him down next to him, sadly Lee fell into Gaara's lap. Lee was able though to catch an arm onto the cave wall before he fell completely on Gaara.

"W- what are you doing?" Lee said shocked. He looked down at Gaara, but Gaara was not paying attention to him at all, he was focusing on the arm that he was still holding. Gaara began to unwrap the cloth around Lee's wrist.

"Please do not be worried about me." Lee said. He tried to pull his hand out of Gaara's grasp. Gaara looked up at Lee that was only twelve inches away from Gaara's face; and Lee froze. Gaara's eyes pierced into Lee.

"You are still bleeding." Gaara said and continued to unravel the cloth. The material reminded him of silk, but it would have already been ruined. Maybe another strong material? Gaara exposed Lee's wrist. There was a gash from the wrist bone and circled around to the inside. He continued to remove more bloodstained cloth, revealing more cuts along the top of the hand, one of the palm; they seemed to have stopped bleeding at first, but must have begun again when he went out in the rain again. Gaara turned Lee's hand palm down to examine the knuckles. They were bruised and the bones pointed up from years of training that pointed the knuckles. Whatever these bruises were from, they were not recent.

'He must train hard.' Gaara thought.

Lee wanted to blush. He didn't want anyone to see the only negative affect of his training.

Lee wrapped his other hand on Gaara's wrist. "It is okay Gaara-san, really."

Gaara took out a canteen that he had and poured some water on the cloth that he had taken off of Lee's arm. He began to dab the cuts with the wet side. Even though he hated water, his body still needed it for him to live.

"So do you train really hard?" Gaara asked. He liked silence, but he wanted to know about taijutsu, and this was the guy to talk to about that.

Lee's black eyes begin to sparkle "Yes! I do train very hard! If I don't reach my quota, I must do more!" Lee thrust out his left hand. Both boys heard a crack. "Itai!" Lee cradled his bad arm.

"Baka." Gaara said.

"I get that a lot." Lee grinned. Gaara blinked. He didn't say that out loud, did he?

There was silence for a few minutes. All they heard was the sound of the misty rain. Gaara continued to wash the dried blood away from Lee's cuts. Surprisingly, both boys were drying faster from the heat they produced. Lee adjusted so he was to Gaara's left.

"Thank you very much." Lee said.

Gaara said nothing and continued with the task. "I will repay your kindness!" Lee exclaimed.

"Kindness?" Gaara muttered. "I just don't want you get sick from infection. Who knows how long we could be here."

Lee smiled as Gaara spoke. "Either way," Lee said. "Just let me know when you are ready! You don't have to think about it now."

Gaara said nothing. He finished one hand and taking Lee's other hand, repeated the process.

The medic-nin's were in search of Rock Lee. They had found everyone else but Naruto, Sasuke, and Lee. They passed a clearing that was full of sand and bones.

"Din't this use to be a forest?" one medic-nin asked.

His companion nodded. She could feel remnants of chakra in the sand and bone

They hopped over a large bone to see a figure sticking out of one piece of bone. They stop to examine the figure.

The female placed two fingers on the neck of the figure.

" He's dead." she announced.

"This must have been Lee's opponent. He was still recovering too, do you think…." the male medic-nin looked over to his companion. She shook her head.

"No. The Godaime said that three Sungakure shinobi went to their aid. Two have been accounted for; that only leaves one. I'm sure that Lee was helped by that one."

The male nods. Both began to search the area for any clues that could help them find Lee and possibly the last member of the Sungakure trio.

Gaara was almost dry. His hair and sand was dry for the most part, but he couldn't say much for his clothes. At least he wasn't cold. Gaara looked to his left where Lee had fallen asleep. Lee had shifted and was leaning on Gaara. Gaara had been stiff for a while, but he felt better now that he could control a good majority of his sand. If his sand was not reacting, then he knew he was safe.

Gaara could not understand Kimimaro no matter how much he thought about it. He knew why Kimimaro fought, but why did Lee? Protecting friends?

'Hm, maybe he could help me with Taijutsu?' Gaara thought.

He heard rustling outside the cave entrance.

Gaara's eyes narrowed as he stared out into the light world. He shifted, and carefully placed Lee so he was resting on a rock, no use waking him up, Lee needed rest, Gaara didn't. His chakra was almost completely restored thanks to the Shukaku. Gaara slowly walked his way over to the door, making sure that he made no sound as he got closer and closer. He heard someone speaking softly near the entrance of the cave.

"Lee had surgery a few days ago, if he fought, he would most likely have injured himself, so he must have found shelter somewhere.

"Which means we have an injured shinobi somewhere in this forest. At least by the path that he took, he was on his way back to Konoha."

'Are they from Konoha?' Gaara wasn't sure. It could be a trap. Only one way to know…. Gaara stepped out of the safety of the cave. The rain had finally stopped, but the clouds were still heavy and dark in the sky, threatening to spill rain out yet again. He saw two people dressed in white, one shorter than the other. Both looked Gaara over in mild surprise.

The shorter one placed a fist on their hip. "You must be Sabaku no Gaara, right?"

He could tell this was a woman. She didn't seem frightened of him either, in fact, she seemed a little angry. Maybe she was remembering how his village had tried to take over Konoha?

"Where is Rock Lee? Did you intercept him at all?" the woman asked.

'Was she a medi-nin? The ones in his village looked different, but Gaara did remember the garb of the medic-nin's from the exams. He gave the woman and her companion a once-over. Both had the Konoha symbol on their hitai-ate, and did know about Lee's injuries extensively. Well if they did have an intention of harm, Gaara would be able to fight them off. Gaara crossed his arms and turned sideways so he could watch the entrance of the cave, just in case there were more of them hiding.

All three turned to the cave entrance when they saw movement. Lee limped out rubbing an eye. "WHat's going on Gaara-san?" he asked and blinked when he saw the two medic-nin. "Oh, hello. Have you been looking for us? I'm very sorry!" he bowed.

"It is okay Lee; if you two would please follow us back to Konoha so we can look at the wounds that have been inflicted." the male medic-nin stated.

Gaara turned to Lee, giving him a questioning look.

Lee looked back, and smiled. " Are you ready to get back Gaara-san?"

Gaara only needed to hear that. His siblings were waiting for him anyways. He nodded and all four began their trek back to Konoha.


	8. Chapter 8

Jumping ahead just a little bit since I will kinda be in the fillers now……and that is a lot to cover. Well I guess not really, but well if I want this to move along! Let's see….. In the next chapters Gaara will learn how to control the Shukaku, and of course it is _no_ mistake that Lee is there. Even though he couldn't help! Poor guy is still having problems! I think that Gaara and Rock Lee would be good friends (nods) They have been through a lot and then it seems that they keep getting pushed together again! So yay! Now I did do some digging in an episode so some parts are from the anime… and for you manga readers, I'm sorry to take so much from the anime, but I don't know how to get the manga online….I know it sounds moronic, demo it is true! (giggles) Personally I find it hilarious that Temari told Gaara to smile!

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Gaara's sister thought it would be a great idea to make their own school teaching their new shinobi about weapons, and strategy, etc. After she had heard about Konoha's teaching methods from one of their shin obi's named Shikamaru (Temari had been spending some time with this guy, and it urked Gaara a little, but he wouldn't say anything about it), she decided that by mimicking, but not entirely, the criteria from Konoha schools, they could make better shinobi. Gaara didn't mind the idea, it sounded pretty good to him. She brought a bunch of children into the training ground in the village and then dragged Gaara and the middle child Kankuro from what they were doing, to train the children. Hey they did agree to it.

So now here Gaara was, standing out in the hot sun, not that it bothered him; though he always wondered how Kankuro could wear black and be okay, especially in the afternoon sun. Maybe he would ask later. He waited and listened to the children talk. Some seemed to glance over at him and look away in fear.  
Kami-sama, now that was annoying.

It was bad enough that he was still receiving this treatment, but who could blame them? His actions that seemed to be years ago, but were merely a few months ago, did not help these people think highly of him. He had to do something to get these people that he would not hurt them. This was his village, no matter how much they hated him, he had decided that he would still protect them; but he knew that it would take time for others to see it. He knew that his siblings saw the change in him, but they were around him constantly.

He ignored the stares and whispers just like he always did. Besides they were only kids.

"This is combat training. Select here the ninja weapon that is right for you." Temari said to the group of children.

One girl raised her hand. She had her head slightly tilted to the floor and her eyes seemed so sad to Gaara.

"Um, do you have to select one?" the girl asked. Her voice was quiet, but she could still be heard.

That seemed to take Temari and Kankuro by surprise. Gaara didn't mind. It was good that someone spoke their mind once in a while, and he could tell something was bothering her.

"What is the meaning of this?" Kankuro asked.

"If you use a weapon, You'll hurt the other person." the girl said, getting a little more volume in her voice. She seemed determined to get her point across. "You might even kill them."

It was sad, but Gaara knew these were times when you couldn't have mercy on the enemy. He wanted to tell her that weapons do have their uses, he had been taking more time to practice on his taijutsu and weapons training; after that near-death experience, he knew that he first needed to gain more stamina, and utilize his other skills just in case the worst happened and his sand could not protect him, like the time he was with Lee in the cave from the rain. He didn't want that to happen again unless he was prepared. " A weapon…" Gaara began, he heard the gasps of the children as all the attention was focused on him. It was unnerving, he was still not use to speaking to other people other than his siblings or Baki and now it seemed Lee as well, and were the children afraid that he was going to hurt them? The look that the girl gave him….. she looked to him for a type of help, and she seemed to be interested. Gaara's brow furrowed at the frustration he felt towards himself for not having the courage to speak his mind. He use to have no trouble, but now looking at this poor girl's face, he wasn't sure what he believed anymore. Gaara closed his eyes to get the faces of the children staring at him out of his line of sight. "No, it's nothing." he said.

"A ninja mission is not a game." Temari said.

"If you have that kind of heart when going into battle, you'll get killed." Kankuro finished for her.

"Sorry." the girl said.

"The combat training is against one of the three of us. Assemble into the groups you want to be in." Temari said to the children. She turned to Gaara. "Gaara, smile! If you have that kind of sour look, no one will pick you." she said quieter so no one could hear but them.

Gaara knew no one would choose him anyways. They were all afraid of him, so why bother in trying to smile, besides if he did, he knew that his face would creak, or worse it would crack. That was funny he thought imagining what would happen if he did smile, he would probably give Temari and Kankuro a heart attack. He was pulled out of his musings when he heard some rocks shift as if someone had walked towards him. He opened his eyes to see the girl that asked the question earlier. She stepped up to the table with the many weapons.

"Um, please?" she said quietly.

Gaara stared hard at the girl, his green eyes flashed in the sun. "You're okay with me?" he asked. She could just be messing with him? Maybe she was confused about something.

The look that he gave her didn't seem to bother he at all. She looked right back at his scowling face, not backing down as she looked him in the eyes. "Please." she said, he voice holding confidence.

Hmm, okay this should be fun….. Who was he kidding? He had no idea what to do really! Gaara felt kinda awkward, he didn't want to scare her, but she did choose him, well he decided he would try his best.

Firstly, he needed to know her name….. and she hadn't given it to him…. He couldn't just call her girl?

"Your name?" Gaara asked.

The girl jumped, in embarrassment. "It's Matsuri." she said.

"Matsuri, pick a weapon." Gaara kinda liked her. She seemed more nervous than he was.

Matsuri looked around the table at the weapons on the table in front of her. The sword she hated! It gave her flashbacks, she looked to her right, she liked the small weapon that had string around it. She brought her hand up to take it.

"What is it?" Gaara asked. He just wanted to know why she was so hesitant in taking the one she liked. He knew she liked the small one already, but she seemed to just stare at it.

Matsuri pulled her hand back like it had been burned, and quickly grabbed the large spiked club that wasthe first thing to her left. She picked it up, and careened around trying to keep her balance as the club was way too heavy for her. Gaara wanted to laugh. What was she doing? Oh well, it was her decision…even if it was a poor choice. I guess he would have to let her see that. Plus he couldn't stop himself from wanting to see what would happen.

" See if you can hit me with that weapon, like you were trying to kill me." Gaara said. If she had potential with it, then they could go from there.

"Yes!" was all she said. She could barely turn toward him to take the stance. She tried to lift the club over her head, and toppled over onto the ground. Gaara watched as she fell almost doing a summersault as she fell.

"There's a phrase 'demons with clubs', but that is impossible for you." Gaara said. She was too small for that kind of weapon.

"Yes." Matsuri said. "Please tell me which one I should pick."

Gaara walked over to the table, took a quick but through look at the remaining weapons. He chose the one that Matsuri almost taken before. He held it up for her to see. He had been practicing with the Jouhyou, so this would not be difficult.

" This weapon is called the Jouhyou." he said simply.

Matsuri picked herself up from the ground. "Jouhyou?" she asked. She wondered what it did really? It didn't look like a weapon.

Gaara jumped over to an open area, so he could demonstrate the Jouhyou properly.

Matsuri watched as her new sensei landed quietly two yards away and began to spin the Jouhyou. She could see now that the string had something attached to it. Her teacher was very good with that weapon.

"The teeth on the end of the string are not so much for attacking, as they are to prevent the opponent from getting too close." he kept the string spinning around him to demonstrate this." And then with the rope. Render them unable to attack!" Matsuri watched in awe as her sensei threw the still spinning rope toward a log that was sticking up from the ground, the string wrapped around the log with the help of the dart that was tied to the end. "Practice with this weapon until it feels like another part of your body." Gaara said to Matsuri, he handed the Jouhyou to her.

"Yes! She said. He could tell that his demonstration had gotten her full attention. This might be good for her to use since he remembered her question still. She began to practice, she wasn't getting it but that didn't stop her. She threw it again, the dart bounced off the log and went flying toward her face. She dodged, but that brought back the memories yet again. She stood there for a minute. Gaara noticed her hesitation yet again. He picked up the dart that was stuck in the ground. He held it out for her. "What is it?" he inquired again.

"My mother and father were killed by countless weapons before my very eyes." Matsuri said taking the dart from Gaara. "That's why I.." she couldn't go on, and Gaara would not press her.

"What is your purpose for wielding a weapon?" Gaara asked. He began to have flashbacks of his fight with Naruto. He remembered asking what the two meant to him. He was answered they were his friends, and then threatened. Naruto was the kind of person that recklessly jumps into a fight, but he fought the 'ultimate weapon' as they called Gaara to protect his friends. "That's how he said it to me." Gaara said to Matsuri. Then he thought it was time to leave her be and let her think of her answer on to that question.

He left the grounds and began to walk around the village, possibly to go practice as well. He ran into Temari and Kankuro. Kankuro was crouched on the ground holding one of the shinobi that guarded the village entrance.

"Gaara." Kankuro said when he heard his brother's approach. "We were just about to go find you."

"The patrol ninja were attacked by somebody." Temari said.

The hurt shinobi looked at Gaara. Blood was coming from his mouth, it looked bad. "A group using mysterious weapons, calling themselves the Shintenshounin, wanted me to tell Gaara," the shinobi paused for a moment. 'We, who are the ultimate weapons, announce our challenge to you. If you do not accept, everyday we will kidnap somebody close to you, until you respond."

Gaara rose an eyebrow. If he had anyone that close to him maybe this wouldn't be so funny. Just who were these people? Didn't they understand what he was? He didn't have anyone close to him that couldn't take care of themselves already.

But wait…. He did just get a new student….. and she was by herself right now.

'K'so!' Gaara thought. He ran toward where he left Matsuri along with his siblings close behind him, they had another shinobi take the wounded one to the medic-nin's. As they reached the spot no one was there, the only thing that was there was the Jouhyou that Matsuri was practicing with. Temari was about to touch it. Gaara placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Wait." he said, he noticed that it was pointing toward another exit northeast.

"They are heading northwest." Gaara said.

"Matsuri's the first sacrifice." Kankuro said.

"But the ones calling themselves the Shintenshounin's real target is you, Gaara." Temari said.

Gaara inwardly sighed. He knew that already. "Yes." he said and picked up the dart of Matsuri's weapon. He wound up the rope.

"We should hurry to the jounin meeting." Kankuro said. Maybe they could help out.

That made sense to Gaara, but he didn't want to waste time with those people. He would rather go now. He realized that he had narrowed his eyes in the direction that the shinobi went with his student.

They hurried over to the council building to inform the elders what happened. Good thing Baki was there. Gaara felt more comfortable around him anyways. They informed Baki of the problem. He seemed to understand. He went and addressed the council of the situation. He suggested that they should request the help of Konoha. Baki turned towards Gaara and his sibs.

"I want you to form a squad immediately, make preparations for pursuit." Baki said.

That was all Gaara needed to hear. He turned and had already many things in his mind….first of what he would do when he got his hands on those shinobi….then the things he would teach Matsuri.

"Wait just a minute." Gaara heard Kankuro say. " The enemy's objective is Gaara, are we just supposed to go to fall into their trap?"

Gaara paused…. What was he doing? To make matters worse, Temari joined in.

"That's right. Why aren't we developing other units?" she asked.

"This could be a diversion from the enemy." Baki says to the siblings.

"Well at least you are coming with us right Baki?" Kankuro asked.

They all waited for an answer. Baki seemed to be miles away even though he was right in front of them.

Gaara could care less right about now. All he wanted to do was to leave and pursuit the Shitenshounin; he would show no mercy on them either.

"Well? OI!" Kankuro was beginning to become furious.

Gaara didn't need to hear the answer Baki was about to give, he pretty much knew the answer.

"I have been given a different mission." he said.

Gaara could tell that Kankuro wanted to tell Baki what he thought of that. Gaara walked past Kankuro and out the doorway. He knew they would not be getting help, so why bother wasting time?

"Let's go Kankuro." Temari said, and both followed Gaara out the door.

All three siblings left the building and ran in the direction the shinobi set off in.

Gaara wondered whether or not Konoha would help; well knowing the village, they would get help. Gaara wondered if Naruto would be coming? That would be nice, he would like to see Lee too, he wondered how he was too.

They traveled for what was most likely hours until they reached the border , there they could see trees growing; the trees became a deep forest as they passed through it. They were able to travel faster now that they were able to use the treetops propel them forward.

As the siblings were pushing themselves to go faster, the noticed a figure half a mile ahead. The siblings had to stop their pursuit in their tracks as a large gust of wind pummeled them.

'So this is a wind user as well?' Gaara thought as he blocked debris from his eyes.

He saw movement to his left, he turned to see Temari take her fan off from her back an open it fully. She waved it side to side once. Once was enough, Gaara watched as his older sister's summoned wind viciously cut every tree down in front of them.

They waited to see if the enemy would show herself again.

"Well done." Gaara said when he didn't see any sign of the woman they were fighting.

"Pretty good Temari." Kankuro agreed with his younger brother. After the almost invasion of Sungakure from those strange shinobi, it seemed to Kankuro that him and Gaara had grown a stronger bond towads each other.

Temari turned to her brothers. "Of course it was." she said to them.

"That was pretty good." all three heard above them. They looked up to see their enemy riding on a squall.

Temari turned halfway towards her brothers. "You go on ahead." she says. She goes into an offensie stance, and stared down the enemy.

"Temari, are you sure?" Kankuro asked. He was unsure about leaving his sister.

Gaara felt the same way. "Is this okay?" he asked. He wanted to go ahead as well. He needed to be sure.

"What?" she looked over at her brothers. "We're both wind users. I'll be enough to take her on." she shifts her gaze to Gaara. "Hurry up Gaara, that's your student, right?"

Gaara realized he had just insulted his sister.

"Sorry, I'll leave this to you." He jumps back into the treetops in pursuit of the kidnappers.

"Be careful." Gaara heard Kankuro say and he returned to the pursuit as well.

Gaara couldn't believe that he had gotten an inocent girl involved with his issues. He almost didn't hear Kankuro as he was lost in thought.

"We've caught up." Kankuro said. They pushed themselves off the trees that they used to propel forward a little harder.

Gaara and Kankuro sensed something was coming their way.

"What?" Kankuro dodges right after Gaara as what seemed like an invisible force tried to attack.

Another enemy came out of the hiding place. This one was a lot different than the other one they had left Temari with. At least they could tell he was male…for the most part.

"Do you see?" the strange shinobi asked.

"You're just a kid." Kankuro said. He gave a critical eye to the strange sword that this kid was wielding. It seemed to move. "I see." Kankuro said. The moving sword seemed to remind him of his bamboo snake that he use to play with as a kid. " Though it may look alive and moving like a snake, there is no meaning to it once you know how it works. To me it is a child's toy. Go Gaara." Kankuro says not taking his eyes from the boy in front of him.

Gaara was unsure yet again. "Should I leave this to you?" Gaara asked.

"Yea, I don't need your help. I'll catch up in a moment." Kankuro said.

"I'll leave this to you then." Gaara said and went back to chasing the shinobi that took his student.

'_Be okay, Temari, Kankuro, and especially Matsuri.' _Gaara thought as he jumped through the trees.


	9. Chapter 9

Yea! Sorry it has been so long! I guess I let the time slip by me! Well hopefully this is a good chapter. Right about now it isn't what I thought it would be, but it seems to have come together pretty good! Now mind you this is from episode 218-219. If you haven't seen this yet this is a SPOILER!! So please don't get mad at me! I hope this will help. After this I am planning on wrapping this up. A few more chapters to go! Yay! Oh! And I do not own Naruto!

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Gaara continued on his trek. He now left his brother alone with one of the shinobi, if they got hurt….. He would never forgive himself. However, they are older than he, they have a few tricks of their own. He jumps onto one of the branches, but he quickly dodged the large morning star that obliterated the branch that he was about to jump on. Gaara readjusts and lands safely on the ground a few yards away from one of the shinobi that kidnapped his student.

"You aren't going any further." the shinobi said. He tightened his hold on his weapon. "Gaara, fight me." he got into a defensive stance. The Shitenshounin shinobi had only heard the stories about what Sabaku no Gaara was capable of, he had never experienced it himself, so he needed to be cautious.

Gaara stood in silence, debating if he should satisfy this man's wishes. "Okay then," Gaara decided. "Come at me." he crosses his arms and waited.

Both didn't move. Gaara guessed that he would have to start the fight.

'Fine.' Gaara thought. He began to feed his sand out of his gourd, he brought out enough so that it made a good sized ring around his body. Gaara's opponent must have gotten tired of waiting because he began to swing his morning star around. He needed to get momentum before he attacked, which to Gaara was a major flaw. He must have finally gotten enough leverage, because before Gaara knew it, the shinobi was hurling the morning star towards Gaara. His sand reacted immediately and speared in front of him, stopping the spike ball in its tracks. One tug and the spike was free.

"Pretty good Sabaku no Gaara. How much chakra is molded into that sand?" the shinobi asked. He watched as the sand circled around Gaara.

"Do you want to find out?" Gaara glared at his opponent, this man was beginning to bug him….only slightly. "However," he uncrosses his arms so that they were in front of him, "it'll be in exchange for your life."

Gaara's sand shot from their hiding place where they had begun to creep up on the armored man and enclosed him from head to toe.

"Sabaku Kyuu!" Gaara says and closes his hands into a fist, and the sand pressurizes.

Gaara pauses, he begins to relax, instead his brow creases and he can't believe what he is seeing. The sand

that had pressurized one minute before, began to lose its shape and began to fall. The shinobi that he had trapped in there kicked and shook himself free of the sand.

"Impossible." Gaara mutters. No one could have survived that. No matter how strong that armor he had on.

"That was a nice sandbag." the shinobi said, he began to move his shoulder in a windmill motion to stretch it out.

Gaara finally understood what happened when he noticed that the eyes of the lion etched in the breastplate of the armor he was wearing were glowing an eerie red . "You absorbed the sand's chakra."

The shinobi smiled. "That's right, this armor swallows chakra." the eyes of the lion fade away after that.

Both shinobi's stare at each other for a while. Gaara tried to figure out a way that he could bypass this minor problem, well he did have a good amount of chakra, so he trusted in himself, but he wouldn't let this guy know, so he kept his face placid.

Gaara's opponent laughed and began to swing the spike-ball attached to the now staff. "As long as your chakra isn't molded into it, your sand is nothing. Do your best to grab this!" he gave it one last swing and then let the ball fly towards Gaara.

Gaara molded his sand once again, this time into a giant hand, and did just what he asked, he grabbed the chain connecting the ball to staff. The armored shinobi just laughed.

"It's useless." he says as Gaara's chakra began to flow up the chain and into the lion's open mouth. "I can feel it! I'm absorbing your chakra!" the Shitenshounin shinobi knew that he was finally winning! If this is how Sabaku no Gaara really was, then he was disappointed in all the stories that he had heard.

Gaara decided that he needed to use his secret weapon, so he touched the chakra in his sand and it instantly reacted, knowing exactly what he wanted. The sand shot out of the gourd. Gaara watched as the shinobi's face changed into something along the lines of disbelief; Gaara enjoyed that look. He kept a hold of the chain and had the sand make a column underneath his feet so he was now rising into the canopy of the trees, while his opponent hung on for dear life. Just to make sure that this guy knew what he was getting himself into; Gaara held out an arm and closed his fist, then he crossed his arms and watched as the fun began. The sand arm began to swing the armored shinobi around. Faster and faster the armored shinobi went, he couldn't do anything but hang on and hope that he was distracting Gaara enough so that his partners were able to position themselves.

Gaara went higher and higher, he was able to see the canopy and before he knew it, he could see the tops of the trees. He waited a few minutes and then when he felt like that was enough, he uncrossed his arms and lifted one, he opens his fist and the sand hand did the same, letting the armored shinobi swing far away from him.

'It's going to hurt when he lands.' Gaara thought.

The armored shinobi flew, but he must have been so weight down that he flew about five yards and made a huge crater when he landed.

Gaara could not see the armored shinobi at all. He just decided to look around…..how long had it been since they had taken Matsuri? He must have been distracted because before he knew it he saw what looked to be chakra in the form of a dragon, a water dragon.

Gaara watched as it slammed into his sand tower that he had made, and toppling him over; drenching him.

'Damnnit!' Gaara thought as he fell. He was able to have his fall broken by his sand, he still had a small amount of reign over it.

"To choose to land on sand, as expected of Sabaku no Gaara." the armored shinobi said. He was now the one that was waiting for Gaara to make a move.

Gaara glared at the armored shinobi.

"But," the shinobi continued as he stared at the spot that Gaara landed.

Gaara lifted a hand. It was hard for him to move it, but he wasn't a quitter. He lifted his arm and focused his chakra. The sand was very heavy but he could still manipulate it. It moved and took shape, but it was too heavy and crumbled.

'This isn't good.' Gaara thought. He had already been through this once, but it wasn't during a battle.

The armored shinobi saw this and began to laugh.

"Your luck ends here." the shinobi said. He began to swing his morning star, quickly gaining speed, he tossed the spiked ball towards Gaara's direction. Gaara knew this was going to hurt pretty badly, but before both could move, Gaara heard a familiar voice to his left.

"Konoha Senpu!" Lee said and knocked the ball away. He took his normal fighting stance in front of the armored shinobi. "A hero's entry always comes late!" he said and turned his head so he could give Gaara a big smile. The sun reflected off his teeth and they sparkled for a second. Then he turned to keep the enemy distracted for Naruto.

"That's right!" Naruto jumped out of his hiding place, landing a kick to the unsuspecting shinobi, making him spiral to the side. Naruto stood up and grinned over towards Gaara. "Sorry we made you wait Gaara."

'Naruto?' Gaara thought.

"You covered for everyone during the time with Sasuke, right? I came to pay you back for that time. That is why we have dibs on that guy." he glanced over at the armored shinobi who was beginning to rouse from his near unconscious state. "So go hurry to your student!"

Gaara was actually pretty happy to see them. He knew that Konoha might help, but had no idea that Naruto would be there, he figured that Naruto would be searching for Sasuke. He didn't want to read too much into those two, but he knew that Naruto would do anything for Sasuke, even if it involved dragging Sasuke by the hair to get him back.

Gaara tried to stand up, he was not out of this fight yet, they would be his backup, but when he got halfway, his legs gave out from the weight of the sand and the gourd. He lands on one knee. Rock Lee is right by his side, he places a hand on Gaara's shoulder, in utter shock of the state Gaara was in.

"For you to have been this run down…" Lee couldn't even finish what he was saying; this guy was defenitly strong.

Lee heard his name being called by Sakura. She ran up to where he was kneeling with Gaara. She looked at Gaara and then back to Lee.

"Please leave Gaara's care to me." Sakura said, she was already getting her chakra to move towards her hands. They turned green when she began to heal what she could of Gaara's wounds.

"Understood." Lee said. Both Lee and Naruto watched and stood in a defensive stance as the armored shinobi began to stand up. " Then allow me to start this!" Lee tenses his muscles to rush the shinobi.

"Be careful." Gaara says. He knew that he needed to let them know about the armor that shinobi was wearing before they did anything. "His armor absorbs chakra." He was a little late in letting them know. Lee lunged at the armored shinobi and planted a kick to his breastplate. The lion's eyes turned red as it began to suck the chakra from Rock Lee's attack.

The armored shinobi laughed. I'll have all your chakra sucked up." he said.

Lee stumbled to get his footing again. That definitely felt weird. "I see." Lee said. "This means we can't use our usual abilities, huh?" he meant it as a question for Gaara and a statement for Naruto.

" That doesn't matter." Naruto said. He lunged at the armored shinobi, but got knocked back. " Fighting spirit's enough!" he began to attack the shinobi.

Lee could feel the spirit that Naruto was emanating. It seemed to pump him up and feel more sure of himself. "Yes! I'll go forth with willpower!"

Both boys threw all that they could; kicks, punches, you name it. They tried not to rely too much on their techniques, so as not to feed the armor. The shinobi was good at dodging though.

"After I've finished absorbing your chakra," the armored shinobi kept dodging the kicks and punches that the two boys threw at him still. "I'll be sure to get you back."

As Naruto and Lee kept their opponent busy, Sakura was already done healing Gaara's wounds. His sand was even dry. The thing that Gaara didn't understand was why she was staring at him. He was beginning to get a little uncomfortable. Just then she looked up into the sky, Gaara followed her gaze and he noticed a cloud of black that moved into readable characters.

"A message from your ally?" Gaara asked.

"Ino is hurt." Sakura said. She turned around to see Gaara stand up.

"Go." was all Gaara said. He was anxious to get back into the fight, and he had something in mind, his last resort.

Sakura stared at Gaara in disbelief. She had just got done healing him, and she was still concerned about his depleted chakra as well. "But with your body in that condition.." she didn't get to finish since Gaara interrupted her.

" I'm alright now, go save your friend." he said. He got up and began to walk to where the fight had progressed, which wasn't that far away.

"Don't over do it." He heard Sakura say over her shoulder.

"Yea." was all he said, and watched for a few seconds as she ran back into the forest.

Gaara pulls his full attention to the fight. He waited for the perfect moment when he would execute his attack.

"What are you doing?!" Naruto said, he saw Gaara come over to the fight from the corner of his eye. "Go save your friend."

Gaara crosses his arms. "I will save my friend." he had a score to settle with this guy. He got his sand wet, Gaara was slightly grumpy and he wanted to return the favor. "I'll finish it quickly."

"But…" Naruto began.  
Rock Lee had been keeping the armored shinobi busy, but he was obviously at a disadvantage, and he got knocked down by the spiked ball that was being swung around.

"Fuzzy eyebrows!" Naruto said and ran over to the fallen Lee.

'So he does want to play dirty. ' Gaara thought. He walks over to armored ninja. He thought he heard someone call his name, but he ignored it and kept his eyes glued onto the ninja in front of him. Gaara lifts up an arm in the stance that it usually takes when he calls upon his sand.

The armored ninja scoffs. "There's no sand left in that you can use!" the ninja thought that Gaara was going to use the sand in his gourd. He was way off.

Gaara'sskin on his face seemed to begin to break off. It revealed his real skin underneath the sand armor. It snaked over to his outstretched hand. "This is my weapon." it began to form into a spear made of sand. The armored shinobi stared in awe as it formed. Gaara glared hard and threw the spear. It sailed true and went right into the heart of the shinobi.

The armored shinobi stumbled, his face a mask of utter shock. How could this happen?! He underestimated Sabaku no Gaara fatally. He could feel himself fading fast. He dropped to his knees and fell completely to the ground.

Gaara watched as the armored shinobi fell; once he fell to the ground and didn't move, Gaara fell as well; his legs couldn't keep him up anymore.

"Are you okay Gaara?" Naruto asked?

"This is it." Gaara said simply.

They waited in silence, catching their breath, when a scream broke the silence. All three boys were immediately alert. As if on cue they then heard a girl's voice yell.

Matsuri was calling to her teacher. Gaara's heart froze. If she gets hurt…..was all he could think.

"Hurry leave the rest to us!" Naruto said. That cry for help was chilling, he wanted Gaara to hurry and save the innocent girl before it was too late.

Gaara nodded and took off into the canopy of the trees.

Rock Lee felt useless. He knew that he messed up something in his leg. He couldn't move his leg.

'Damnit!' He thought. So far he was not helping out at all. He could think of so many training sessions that he would have to do after this. He was already thinking of what he could do next, when Naruto broke his thoughts. All he heard from him was Sakura and soon. So Sakura was on her way. That was good! He could get back into the fight! He would just have to wait a little longer.

'Hang in there Gaara-san!' Lee thought.

A few minutes later Sakura came along with Ino, to where Lee and Naruto were resting. She kneeled down to where Lee was, she had him lay down so she could being healing him. Lee waited while Sakura healed him. It seemed like hours, but was really mere minutes. Lee could feel the sharp pains fading in his leg and arm.

"Just a few more ligaments." Sakura said. She wanted to assure Lee that he would be back to normal soon.

She looked up from what she was doing. "It seems like no matter how much you fight, this always happens." she said. This was making her slightly worried.

Lee could hear the worried tone in Sakura's voice. "I'm sorry." He immediately said. "You were a big help. Sakura-san, thank you for your help." he really couldn't express how grateful he really was. He knew that she wanted him to stop, but he just couldn't. "I can't just ignore Gaara-kun. We're part of the Return the Favor Squad, after all." Lee said. He wanted to get back on the move to catch up with Gaara.

Meanwhile….

Gaara had caught up with the remaining shinobi, he would get Matsuri back no matter what! Just where was this guy leading him anyways? Gaara followed him all the way into a valley. The shinobi carried Matsuri on his back in a pouch that restrained her completely. Gaara looked around the valley, it was pretty deep; but Gaara focused his attention back to the shinobi, who had now stopped in his tracks.

"That's as far as you go. I'm taking Matsuri back ." Gaara said. He stared hard at the shinobi.

The shinobi turned to face Gaara. "You're the one who is cornered." the shinobi replied. Gaara did not like the smirk that spread across the weather-worn face of the shinobi.

"What?" Gaara said.

_He must be planning something, but what? _Gaara hoped that his friends would be here soon.

"Although you're called the ultimate weapon, didn't you use up all your sand back there?" the shinobi asked still smirking as he waited for Gaara to answer back.

Gaara's eyes narrowed slightly, so this is what he had planned. For the armored shinobi to distract him so he would use up all of his sand; which was true, he was at his limit, but he wouldn't let this guy know. "One-on-one battle I won't lose." Gaara said to the shinobi but for also himself as well. He could do this! He had been practicing for this.

The shinobi scoffed. "I'm not afraid of an unarmed shinobi." he lifted an arm and Gaara heard a click and the pouch that was holding Matsuri to the shinobi's back fell to the ground. Matsuri didn't say a word, she must be disoriented still. Gaara watched as the shinobi withdrew a sword strapped to his side. The sword had a greenish tint to it and it had a small stone towards the tip.

'_What an odd looking sword.' _Gaara thought.

The shinobi held the sword up skyward, not anywhere near Gaara's direction. "Come forth! Mugen Kouga!" he yelled.

Gaara wasn't sure what he meant by that. He felt a surge of chakra toward his left, he also noticed a light towards the left as well. He turned to see what that was and watched as the light zipped towards the shinobi holding the sword. The light rested on the shinobi's chest and solidified into a familiar lion headed breastplate. He yelled a two more times, but Gaara was too stunned to even figure out what he had just said, but it seemed that he commanded the other weapons that his allies had wielded.

"It's time for you to learn that mere ninja cannot defeat the weapons that Takumi Village create!" the shinobi said, he then swung one of the short swords which made a small squall to Gaara's left, it then quickly became a tornado in mere seconds.

Gaara had to think fast. He remembered a jutsu that he knew that he had enough chakra to use. As the tornado came closer he dropped into the ground in a hollow ball, and he came back up when the tornado blew past. Gaara stood staring at the shinobi waiting for the next move.  
The shinobi gritted his teeth. "Garian Tou!: The blue snake-like swords on the shinobi's back raced towards Gaara. He dodged when it came to his right, but he didn't dodge fast enough and it grazed his shoulder. When he felt the lace of pain in his shoulder he jumped back to get some distance, and went down to one knee as he clutched his now bleeding shoulder.

"Seems that you main reserve of chakra has disappeared. There's a monster in your body, right?" the shinobi inquired, which made Gaara clench his jaw tighter and narrow his eyes at the shinobi; but it seemed that the shinobi was not done there.

"Why don't you use Shukaku's chakra?" he smirked slightly.

Gaara figured that he must want something from the Shukaku; he would never use that abomination! Never! He got up and reached in his pack. He took out two kunai and got into a defensive stance. He was ready for this guy and he would NOT use that.

The shinobi attacked with the blue sword again. It snaked and coiled towards Gaara; left, right, center; he blocked all the attacks, he dodged one and dived and rolled to the right.

'_That was close.'_ Gaara thought to himself. He jumped to the side and back flipped the other way.

The shinobi brought up the next assault, he dodged them but the attacks made Gaara back up into the cliff-face of the valley. He could not dodge anymore and one of the swords slammed into the cliff behind him.

"This is the end! The Sand village's ultimate weapon!" the shinobi yelled triumphantly.

Gaara couldn't hold himself up anymore, he slid down the cliff-face onto the ground. He was completely out of strength.

'_Damnnit!' _Gaara thought as he glared up at the shinobi.

Lee picked up the pace as he jumped through the forest canopy. He had a feeling that something bad was happening. It was a good thing that Naruto had already run ahead. It made Lee feel a little better, but he still couldn't wait to get there to help out.

'_Don't worry Gaara-san! Hang in there!'_ was all Lee could think. He hoped that everything was okay.

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Alright! This is the middle of the fight scene! Yay! Just a little bit more! I promise that I will write it faster! I have already started what will happen after the fight! Thanks again!


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